World Enough, and Time
by stagemystic
Summary: The Black Order has been defeated and the Earl has free reign over the world... except... one exorcist remains alive. Time is out of joint, the light is fading, even with the help of an unexpected ally, can she mend what was broken? Tyki/Miranda
1. The Fire Next Time

Warning: This is a future fic and thus contains up to date spoilers, currently that's Chapter 152 of the manga and Episode 74 of the anime.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. D. Gray-Man, Tyki, Miranda et al belong to the brilliant Katsura Hoshino.

However, until Ms. Hoshino agrees to have Tyki return to his old charming self for his next manga appearance he will remain shackled in my room. Actually he seems to be a bit of a masochist so at least he's enjoying himself...ummm...(coughs)...yeah soooo... On with the story!

**WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME...**

_Had we but world enough, and time,  
__This coyness, Lady, were no crime...  
__But at my back I always hear  
__Time's winged chariot hurrying near;  
__And yonder all before us lie  
__Deserts of vast eternity.  
__**- Andrew Marvell, 1621 - 1678**_

_God gave Noah the rainbow sign,  
__No more water,  
__the fire next time...  
__**- Traditional Spiritual**_

* * *

They were dead. All dead. Miranda Lotto huddled in the crumbled remains of a bombed out building and silently wept.

The war against the Earl was lost. He and his minions had systematically destroyed each Black Order chapter and the finders, the scientists within. In Rome, even the Vatican had been laid to waste and the Pope himself killed. The remaining exorcists were forced into hiding.

Still they fought on, fought where they could, striking from the shadows, but for all the damage they inflicted it was returned to them tenfold. Each encounter left gaping wounds where friends and allies had been.

Crowley, Lavi, Kanda, Bookman.

Miranda had held onto them as tightly as she could but their time ran out, and they slipped through her fingers like dust.

The only ones left had been Allen, Lenalee, Cross and Miranda herself.

And, in the end, only Miranda.

In her mind's eye she saw Allen again, smiling that bright, beautiful smile.

_Stay here Miranda, please. Everything depends on your staying here._

She should have protested. When the three walked away she should have followed them. Continued to protect them as she had for days on end, for as long as she could and then died by their side. She would have followed if she had been able to move. If she had not lapsed into unconsciousness.

When she had finally come to, she had known in the depths of her being they were dead and her Innocence lay silent.

Now she was alone and waiting for death to come to her.

Useless. To the end of the world, as she had always known she would be. Useless. She crawled deeper inside herself and wept anew.

* * *

Tyki Mikk, the Noah of Pleasure, flicked away the spent cigarette, watching as it cast glowing embers into the already burning air. Immediately he lit another. He sprawled upon the stairs of what he thought had once been St. Paul's Cathedral, eyes lazily following the tendrils of smoke that danced above his head. In the distance Big Ben stood silent, one of the few London landmarks to remain reasonably intact. In the battle with the last surviving exorcists the city had been completely destroyed.

In deference to the carnage, uncounted Level 2 and 3 akuma patrolled the skys while massive quantities of the newly created bobbed around the wrecked city like particularly gothic balloons. Tyki's lip curled. The Earl must have been positively _giddy_, what with all the new toys to play with. Soon they would begin moving into the countryside and they would do to the British Isles what had been done to Edo. Though not as isolated as that other country had been, rumours of virulent plague, with no survivors to contradict them, would ensure the Earl's activities went unobserved.

For his part, Tyki was... conflicted. He was, almost literally, of two minds about everything. The Earl's triumph was no exception. When the last of the exorcists finally fell, he was filled with indescribable elation.His family was safe and they had won. They had _won_! Still, he could not deny, even as joy swept his being, that some part of his soul curled in upon itself and wailed in despair.

At the very least, now that he was unopposed, the Earl was of no mind to rush the final chapter. Unlike a fox in a hen house, Tyki knew his master would rather hide in the shadows, snatching up his prey one by one, instead of indulging in an orgy of mass slaughter all at once.

Still... how long would it be, Tyki wondered, before light began to fade from the world? How much time was left for him to be his White self? Or even his Black self? When the light had gone would either Tyki exist or would he become that mindless black _thing _that had consumed him in the Ark? He shivered. If that was his destiny he'd rather die with the world.

A small flurry of activity in the distance caught his attention. A woman in a panic, clutching a small girl to her chest, came scrambling over the rubble. Apparently unable to go any further she slumped down beside a broken wall, and, in an attitude of despair, began to rock her. As the woman held the child, the child held a doll. It's bright red dress flashed at him through the gray haze.

As he watched, a Level 2, wolf-like akuma appeared and snuffled along the other side of the wall, stalking them.

He whistled sharply.

The akuma's head shot up, ears pricking as it turned in Tyki's direction. With only the slightest hesitation, disappointed to abandon the prey, it loped towards the Noah.

"Yes Lord." It growled.

Tyki took another drag off his cigarette. "Tell me," he drawled in a bored sort of voice, "what's going on in the rest of the city."

As the akuma launched into a report that seemed to consist mainly of how many humans the akuma had himself killed and what parts of the city were still burning, Tyki watched the woman. She seemed stunned at first, then, as if taking strength from the unexpected reprieve, she gathered her child to her once more and escaped, plunging into the shadowed ruins beyond.

He stared into the distance where they had disappeared for a while after. The akuma's voice had long since become a vaguely annoying drone in the background, God, it must have been such a _bore_ as a human, when his thoughts and the report, thankfully, were interrupted by an elated, "Lord, Lord, Lord!" and another akuma hove into view.

This particular akuma was distinctly feminine in appearance, with a glittering golden body, and multicoloured wings that flashed as she dove towards him at a somewhat alarming speed.

_Cute akuma,_ he thought absently. It was also so happy it was threatening to blow itself up for joy.

"Lord, Lord, Lord!" She called again, landing in front of him with a bright chirrup.

"Well, yes we've established that much. Anything else?"

"News, news, news!" She sang, then paused a moment. "_Good _news!" She added enthusiastically.

The Noah sighed but, luckily for her, the creature continued.

As the akuma shared her intriguing information, Tyki pulled himself to his feet, treating himself to a cat-like stretch. _Finally_, he thought, _something interesting to do. _With a wide grin, and a mildly ominous admonishment to the akuma to _tell no one else_, he strode purposefully into the shattered city.

* * *

Miranda's face still shone with tears but her mind had settled somewhat. She had been startled from her mourning by the appearance of an akuma, fluttering above her hiding place. She had thought it had seen her, but it swept away without a backward glance. She realized she could not remain here, like this. Her strength, as well as her curse, seemed to be her ability to go on no matter how many times she failed. Before, when she lost a job, she always plucked up her pride and found another.

Things were going to be a little more difficult this time.

She knew she had to stand against the Earl, of that there was no question. It was the 'how' of it that was worrisome. Especially with her Innocence gone. She had not felt it since the others had died. Of course it must have broken with the 'Heart', but it disappeared far more quietly than she expected.

She bowed her head and tears touched her eyes again. She could only go one step at a time. The first step was survival...

"My, my, my, what do we have here?"

Startled, she looked up, and froze, a sparrow suddenly face to face with a hawk.

The Noah, Tyki Mikk, stood above her, smiling lazily.

He was dangerous, frightening, and Miranda knew precisely what cruelties he was capable of, but somehow she couldn't help feeling darkly fascinated by the sensually beautiful creature. Even in shirt sleeves he cut an elegant figure. The battles that had bruised and bloodied her had barely dusted him, mussing his hair ever so slightly. He smirked at her around his cigarette and his eyes glittered. Casually he plucked the spent smoke from his mouth, flicked it away and crouched before her, pulling out a soft white handkerchief.

Miranda was both mesmerized and terrified as he leaned forward and gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

" Tell me, Lady Exorcist," He murmured softly. "Would you like to live?"

He was so handsome. So charming.

So deadly.

Miranda felt the fury build inside of her. He was a murderer. How many had he killed, helped to kill? Death would be better than to become a tortured, twisted toy. With a desperate cry she launched herself at him.

He was expecting it. With a wicked grin he easily caught her wrists and, using her own momentum against her, rolled until she was pinned beneath his body. She panted, squirming a bit at the intimate contact.

His grin grew wider. "Ah, I like a woman with spir...guhh." He grunted painfully as she brought her knee up solidly. Wincing he rose to his knees, dragging her up with him, pulling her tight to his chest. "Right," he groaned, "maybe not that much." She twisted in his grip and as she grabbed at his hair, light flared along her arm.

Tyki's eyes widened with shock. "Innocence? But that means yours is...!" He was unable to finish as they were both enveloped in a swirl of dark and light and the world yawed open beneath them.

It was like falling... no, falling was too gentle a term for it. She was plummeting, light flickering around her in the dark. Squares of light like windows and strange, blurred impressions of figures moving in the rooms beyond. Stranger still was the other mind she sensed, turning in tandem with her own.

Tyki Mikk. His confusion and curiosity, and more than a little fear, felt very human to her. She had expected a monster, a Noah, with a mind alien and unreadable. A jolt of alarm and the thought, _the Noah_, skittered across her mind. It wasn't her thought. With dawning horror she realized, _I can hear his thoughts..._

_And I can hear yours _

Then a thought like the crack of a whip...

_Woman, what have you done?_

Miranda began to panic. What had happened? The Innocence had never done this before. Her Innocence shouldn't even exist! She caught Tyki's flash of brittle amusement.

_Well, whatever is happening, it's tearing both our minds apart!_

He was right. She could almost feel the edges of her mind, his mind, shearing away from them. She felt his will grip at those ragged edges, and she added her own. It was a such a desperate effort to keep their minds intact that they reached out blindly, grasping at each others. It was a matter of survival, but each time Tyki caught a tendril of her consciousness and drew it back, or when she took a tight hold of one of his fading thoughts, there was a sharp current of pleasure. It was exquisitely intimate, and she couldn't help but tremble as his mind brushed close to hers again and again.

It couldn't keep on like this. Either they would fall on and on until their minds dissolved under the pressure...

Or they hit bottom.

What had they told her at the Order? It was her will that created the reality of the Innocence.

Her Innocence. Her world.

_Then now would be a perfect time to take control! _

There was a sharp hint of panic to Tyki's thought that she might have found amusing if she hadn't been so close to it herself. What was it? What was there for her to take control of?

_Alice down the rabbit hole._

All at once she remembered that odd book she once read and in her minds eye she pictured a young girl floating gently down a deep well.

Almost immediately their rapid descent slowed. The flickering windows became doors of differing shapes, sizes and colours hanging in the black around them. As the immediate danger passed she was recalled to the fact she was sharing space with a deadly enemy.

For a moment she wondered if she should withdraw her mind from Tyki's completely and let him drop.

This thought was greeted by a flash of shock from the Noah followed by a shimmer of darkly delighted laughter that tickled at her mind. Deciding she knew too little of what was going on to attempt anything, and acknowledging some instinct that he was, for now, no danger to her, she allowed his mind to remain close. They drifted carefully down together.

After perhaps a minute, or maybe an hour, ironically she couldn't seem to perceive time properly here, they came to an abrupt halt. Without the pressure to keep their minds tightly bound, they withdrew from each other. As the warm pleasurable tingle of contact disappeared Miranda felt an unexpected flicker of disappointment.

There was a moments smug amusement from Tyki before he focused on their surroundings. All was black but for a black and white checkerboard floor that lay beneath them and a large red door, standing alone.

_Where have you brought us Lady Exorcist? _

Miranda tensed herself but the Noah seemed of no mind to attack. The gentle bell like chime of her Innocence trembled through her.

_I don't think it's 'where'._

She hesitated as realization flooded in.

_It's 'when'..._

* * *

**A/N** : For some reason I hooked into the idea that a Tyki/Miranda ship might work (perhaps it was the anime's first intro that had a windblown Miranda image immediately following a Tyki closeup). The more I read of these characters, the more I liked the idea, even though they have _never _had a scene together. I looked but I haven't found one story with this pairing so I decided to write my own. Enjoy.

Please review and let me know what you think!

Oh and some music on rotation as I wrote – **Prelude 12/21** by AFI and **Tranquilize** – The Killers


	2. Down The Rabbit Hole

Warning: Spoilers through Chapter 156 of the manga, probably going AU past that as it looks like the Noah's origins (or at least the 14th's) will be revealed in the next few chapters. Can't wait!

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Siiiiiiiigh...

**A/N: **Chapter 2 is finally done! Huzzah! (Does a happy dance...) Thanks for your patience. This chapter was a bitch. I knew what I wanted to happen but I wanted to make the Tyki/Miranda interaction somewhat believable. I'm not sure how happy I am with it... siiigh... I was also debating how much info to reveal. I wanted stuff to happen but not show all my cards just yet... . I do have the story plotted out pretty clearly so the rest of it should go up in a timely manner.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. I'm so happy people are enjoying the story. (Hugs all around...)

Oh and a little treat at the end. I'm putting up one of my abandoned scenes as an omake. I was sad to cut this but it really didn't fit. You'll see where it was meant to go. Enjoy!

**WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME...**

_All the hate, sadness and suffering inside you right now is the truth of the past, seven thousand years gone. It's the memory carved into your genes. Your awakening has ended. You can see it already, can't you? The true form of this world._

_-__**The Earl**__, D. Gray-Man, Chapter 96_

_Time flies on restless pinions - constant never. _

_- __**Friedrich Schiller**_

* * *

_Oh God, Dear God, Merciful God..._

_He had been praying for so long his knees were stiff and bruised. He would not have been surprised if, when he finally stood, they bled. His wife had come out to call him into the house... oh how long ago... one hour, perhaps two? It may even have been yesterday... but no... she wouldn't leave him alone that long. She loved him, but, it was because he loved her that he could not stop. It was because he loved their children he could not stop. _

_The world had changed. _

_When had it changed? It had all seemed so beautiful to him, once. He loved his life and he lived it fully. Surely it would have insulted his God, who had given it to him, to use it poorly. But the world was becoming corrupted, evil. In friends he once greeted with joy he now saw the seeds of darkness. It was wormwood, devouring them. In their eyes he saw their souls decaying. _

_When he went to the markets he saw the grasping greed of men he once believed honest. Virtuous wives and daughters now flaunted themselves and teased the men that passed them, and those men, who once looked upon them with respect, now leered._

_Men and women alike smiled, promising violence with their sharply gleaming teeth and he knew they would not hesitate to dash in the heads of their dearest companions on the merest whim._

_And everywhere blasphemy. All things, desires, placed before God in men's hearts. _

_When had this happened? Where did this poison come from? Perhaps it had always been there. Was he seeing the world with God's eyes? His voice rose and fell with his prayers. He cried out, he wept, he tore at his garments and his flesh. He begged, an old man kneeling on bleeding knees before His altar._

_Please God, please..._

_He prayed for a sign, for guidance._

_God remained silent._

_The old man despaired. His sons would come for him soon. They would carry him to the house. His __wife would dress his wounds and his beloved daughter would cajole him into eating something, anything. They would talk to him quietly, carefully, as if he were mad and they would help him to bed. He would stare at the ceiling, pretending to sleep and in the morning return to the altar and begin again._

_Praying to God who did not hear him. _

_Amen. _

* * *

_When..._

Tyki was impressed. No, it was more than that, he was awed. How long had it been since he experienced _that_? They had moved in _time_! Well, their minds had, but still...

They had been aware, of course, that this Innocence was a strong one. To manipulate space/time required incredible power and yet, not even the Earl had paid it any mind. Perhaps it was because it had always been used defensively. Or maybe it was that it's keeper was so very restrained.

When faced with so many exorcists who blustered, and cursed and kept up attack after attack with their increasingly powerful weapons of Innocence, who could notice one who silently protected? So much gentle strength. It was no wonder her Innocence was the 'Heart'.

A jolt of flustered agitation from Miranda alerted him that she had caught the gist of his thoughts. Tyki was amused.

_Ah Lady Exorcist, _he teased, _so very modest. You must be strong indeed to control such a powerful Innocence._

Well, that seemed to have an interesting effect. Her mind began fluttering about in a near panic, furiously denying she had any special strength whatsoever. Beneath that however was an oh so hesitant tingle of pride.

Oh her reactions were simply _delicious, _except, not being able to see her face considerably cut into his enjoyment. Actually, Tyki reflected, being disembodied was a distinctly unpleasant experience all around.

_Do you suppose it might be possible to, at least, create the illusion of physical bodies?_

He sensed her confusion at his abrupt change of track, then a tight curl of suspicion.

_How do I know you wouldn't take advantage of it?_

_You're in complete control here. I may be able to bring my will to bear briefly but ultimately the one who affects this reality is you._

He could feel her mind skittering hesitantly along his own, feeling out the truth of his declaration. He resisted the urge to reach for it. The feeling of their minds tangling before had been a unique one and, in the opinion of the Noah of Pleasure, very enjoyable indeed.

Her mind slipped away. If Tyki had breath he would have sighed.

_All right then..._

Miranda began pulling her will around herself, shyly whispering to her Innocence what she wanted. Tyki could not decide if he found her modesty appealing or irritating. It was certainly different from the bravado of her former companions.

The woman was such an odd mixture of insecurity and determination. And the Heart had chosen her...

His reverie was interrupted as he began to feel enclosed, a pulse of physical sensations. A comforting weight, fabric on skin, solid floor beneath him. The background hum of Miranda's mind faded away as the usual barriers slipped into place.

He sighed and stretched. Ah, a body again. He flexed his hands and examined them. Ash gray. But of course she would imagine his Noah form. It was simply ironic that he could barely sense the Noah at the moment. Still he wasn't about to complain. It had been a shock when they started falling and the Noah curled in upon itself so abruptly. It was protecting itself from the Innocence he knew, but still, he sighed with pleasure, he hadn't felt this human in a long time. Of course, he was now almost entirely powerless...

Tyki glanced up at the newly embodied Miranda. She was peering around nervously. He didn't blame her. He understood she'd been trapped in one of Road's dreams once and the limbo bore an uncanny resemblance to it. Everything was darkness except for the checkerboard square of floor on which they stood, eerily illuminated from nowhere. Nothing else existed on it but themselves and that red door, a surprisingly mundane looking thing if one ignored the fact it was missing a wall. Above their heads other doors hung unsupported, disappearing far above into the black.

Tyki, long unimpressed by the unusual, found his attention captured by the intriguing figure of Miranda Lotto. As if sensing his gaze, her eyes, large and brown, darted to his. He winked and she started, looking quickly away. She was, he decided, quite attractive. He hadn't noticed it before, but then he'd never directly confronted her before. He saw her first in Edo, unconscious and stretched to her limit. How had he referred to her then? It was something unflattering. Over the past few months he had seen her during various battles, always at a distance, desperate and tired. Just a short while ago, in the rubble, she had been weary, red eyed and bruised, but now... This was, he realized, how she was meant to look.

Besides those lovely eyes, she had a pert little nose and full lips. Her hair was thick and dark and tumbled appealingly over her shoulders. She had attired herself in her uniform and, while it clung enticingly to her curves, Tyki felt it was completely unsuitable. She really ought to wear a proper dress, something in a rich green silk perhaps...

She was looking at him expectantly. Oh damn, she'd asked him something. What had she said?

It wasn't like him to be so distracted. He scowled.

Her eyes widened in horror.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

Tyki blinked. Ah, she was panicking again. Yes, it was _definitely_ more entertaining when he could see it.

"I've made an entire mess of everything!" She wailed, her hands dramatically catching up her hair. "And it wasn't my place to ask! I'm sor...!" She trailed off abruptly.

"No... wait...," she murmured.

The next moment she was jabbing her finger at him aggressively, a truly terrifying expression on her face. Tyki took an involuntary step back.

"I am NOT sorry! You are a Noah, my enemy! And... and... my Innocence has trapped you. You have to do as I tell you!"

Tyki gaped slightly in shock then slowly, wickedly grinned. She was such a wonderfully odd woman.

"All right."

She shook her head furiously. "No! You have to... what?"

She frowned at him as her intensity gave way to confusion

"What do you want me to do," he drawled. He slipped his hands into his pockets and waited.

"Um... I said... maybe... we should go through the door?"

"Ah good, I was wondering when we might get to that."

"Yes," she said softly. She stared at the door, but made no move towards it. She began biting at her bottom lip. It took a special effort on Tyki's part to drag his gaze away from it.

"There's a problem?"

"Yes... no...", she sighed and gave him a strange look. "Shouldn't we be fighting?"

"Do you want to fight me?"

"I should... I... I would if I knew how," she admitted. "But I'm not a warrior. That was what the others did, I was just supposed to protect them..." Her face suddenly crumpled and she took a shuddering breath. "I couldn't even do that..."

She looked miserable. Tyki frowned and found himself desperately wanting a cigarette. The Noah would have enjoyed her pain. Bereft of his black self for the moment, the human Tyki only felt an uncomfortable compassion.

Miranda sighed, and, with effort, seemed to gather herself. "Allen always used to say 'keep walking, keep moving forward.' " She smiled at Tyki. It was a tired smile, and sad, but it was the first of hers he'd seen. "The only way forward is through the door. There's no choice I suppose but to go."

Tyki watched with interest as the Exorcist stepped towards the door. Slowly she reached out and touched the handle. It swung wide immediately. She hesitated. With a flicker of amusement the Noah watched as she visibly gathered her courage. She squared her shoulders and passed firmly through. Tyki was drawn along in her wake.

Out of limbo...

and into hell.

* * *

_"Madalena." _

_The woman slowly opened her eyes. Though obviously weary she was still lovely. High cheek bones, large dark eyes, and honey skin were framed by waves of thick black hair spilling across the pillows that supported her. She smiled and it was like the sun breaking over the horizon._

_"Adorado," she breathed._

_A young man, boyishly handsome, leaned towards her and rained gentle kisses upon her face, she giggled as his lips lingered on the beauty mark beneath her left eye._

_When he finally withdrew she turned her gaze to the swaddled child cradled in her arms._

_"Your son."_

_"Ah," the man sighed as he reached out and twitched aside the blankets. He made a show of examining the boy. He placed a gentle finger over the mark under the baby's left eye."I think he will be as beautiful as his mother."_

_His expression grew sad._

_"I should have married you, Lena."_

_"Your father would never have allowed it and if you'd defied him there would never have been any peace for us...," she smiled at the baby who was making a very serious attempt at eating his toes, "or for him."_

_"Still..."_

_"Hush." she murmured. She slid her hand gently across his cheek and tangled her fingers in his hair. She drew his head down and brushed her lips across his. "In the eyes of God you are my husband."_

_With a sigh the man pressed his forehead to hers._

* * *

Miranda softly released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the memory flickered out, except, this was not memory. This was the past, and it wasn't the past that flickered, it was them.

She and Tyki were shades of the future here. Tyki had gone still and silent when the first image played out in front of them. He might not have been there at all but for Miranda's acute awareness of his presence beside her.

After that first scene, though she tried to hold her Innocence steady, the past became more disjointed. She felt like a child trying to hold on to a kite buffeted in a windstorm. Miranda was reminded of the first time she had tried to deliberately control her Innocence at the Order. It had taken her ages to find just the right way of influencing it. It was happening again. The Innocence sped on ahead, dragging her in it's wake. It leapt from time to time, a minute here, a second there. There was no pattern to the past they witnessed. Only one thing remained constant.

It was Tyki's.

Tyki as a boy, a young man, human and not yet Noah.

_A boyish, laughing father, teaching a child cards. _

_Older, finely dressed, dancing and flirting with empty smiles in the arms of glittering women. _

_Younger, covered head to toe in thick black mud proudly displaying a frog to his swooning mother._

_A sullen teen, scowling at an older man with iron gray hair and cruel eyes who sneered, and tore a letter to shreds._

_Older and dancing again, this time with drunken abandon around a fire with colourful men and women as a gypsy violin echoed wildly into the night._

The visions went on as Miranda wrestled with her Innocence. Through it all Tyki remained disturbingly silent.

_The boy and his mother, dressed in black mourning, weeping as the man with the iron hair loomed before them._

At her side, Tyki groaned.

As if that were the catalyst the Innocence required, Miranda felt a jolt as it centered itself.

It was the face of Tyki's mother that flashed before them now, a beautiful face heavy with sorrow and that same face over and over again. She could feel Tyki trying to reach out, yearning desperately towards her but unable to touch.

_Tyki was bent by a bed, weeping, and his mother's face was gray and still... _

She felt something within Tyki snap, and the weight of his will bore down on her mind in an instant.

_Stop this! Stop it now!_

And his thought was filled with fury and a desperate anguish. She felt her consciousness violently thrust away. She lost what little hold she had upon the Innocence and blackness consumed her.

* * *

Miranda came to herself slowly. She felt stiff and her head ached. Gradually she became aware of a warm solid weight pressing against her and rough ground at her back. Her eyes drifted open and she turned slightly. Tyki's head lay upon her shoulder, face against the side of her neck. She was splayed beneath him, her fingers tangled in his soft black curls. She felt woozy, dizzy. Tyki was breathing lightly and his breath tickled against her neck. It made her shiver, though whether it was fear or... something else, she could not tell.

Already she could feel blackness pushing at the edges of her mind. The Innocence had drained her completely but she couldn't pass out again. She would be completely vulnerable. She tried to shift herself, but light exploded before her eyes, her head swimming. Tyki groaned, and it vibrated through her body.

Slowly, so slowly she felt each tiny movement as he slid against her, he began to raise his head. He was so close she could almost feel his eyelashes brush her cheek as his eyes fluttered open. His golden gaze met her own, then faded as, once more, she spiraled into darkness.

* * *

**Omake – Tyki's Surprise**

He sighed and stretched. Ah, a body again. He flexed his hands and examined them. Ash gray. But of course she would imagine his Noah form. It was simply ironic that he could barely sense the Noah at the moment. Still he wasn't about to complain. It was good, it was... Tyki glanced up at the newly embodied Miranda. He blinked and grinned wolfishly... it was _very_ good indeed! He gave her a dark chuckle and she stared back at him wide eyed.

Oh it was really too rich, obviously still thinking about 'Alice in Wonderland', the woman had ended up clothing herself in a short blue dress, and white apron. Shapely long legs encased in white stockings flashed enticingly. As he watched she covered her mouth shaking slightly. Tears began to bead at the corners of her eyes. Crying? Not really the reaction he'd been expecting but...

Miranda burst into peals of laughter.

Hmm?

She seemed unable to control herself. Tyki frowned. Something drooped in front of his eye and he pushed it back in irritation.

He froze. Carefully he stroked his hand back over his head and encountered something long and furry. He caught the edge of it, pulled it down and peered intently at it. Immediately he reached up and found a second long and furry something and pulled that into his eye-line too.

Ears. _Rabbit_ ears. _White_ rabbit ears.

"I think my Innocence has a sense of humour."

* * *

**Portuguese **

_Adorado - _Beloved

Thanks again and reviews are love!

Song on constant repeat this time was **Jealous of Your Cigarette **by Hawksley Workman. It makes me think of Tyki...


	3. Devil's Hand

Warning: Up to date through Chapter 159 of the manga. That said... Hurrah! Tyki's back! And, if possible, hotter than ever! (drools)

Disclaimer: Hoshino's, not mine, darn it...

**A/N: **Thanks once again for your patience. Miranda was being stubborn and Tyki was being perverse (surprise). As a result the first part of the chapter kept getting longer, so I decided to cut it in half so the original second part will be the next chapter... Once again, thank you for the lovely reviews.

**WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME...**

_Life is like a hand of cards. You have to play the hand you're dealt, you can't win by folding, and sometimes you must take chances in order to win.  
_**-Mike Conner **

_...in the small matters trust the mind, in the large ones the heart...  
_**-Sigmund Freud**

_

* * *

__It was on the tenth day of his prayers the messenger came._

_He was just as the old man had imagined him to be. He was handsome, tall and broad shouldered. Gold spun hair, sea blue eyes._

_An angel of God._

"_God loves you, God hears you." The messenger said._ _"And he has a task for you, but there is too much darkness in your own soul to know him."_

_The man cried out in despair._ "_Then what must I do that I might hear?"_

_The messenger's smile spread wide across his face._

"_Ah, my Lord Noah," he sighed, "you must make a sacrifice."_

* * *

Tyki was brooding. He was doing a lot of that lately. By rights, after today's victory, he should have been celebrating. Drinking himself into oblivion perhaps, but _no, _he had to go find the last exorcist and _play_...

Tyki ground out his cigarette in irritation and immediately lit another.

As smoke curled about his head, he toyed absently with the deck of cards he always carried with him, his gaze straying towards the unconscious Miranda Lotto.

Only a short while ago he had come to, tangled around her body. For a brief moment her soft brown eyes held his before she'd fallen unconscious again. He was weak himself and could barely move; but the pleasure of contact with such a warm, comfortable body negated any discomfort. Then the Noah had called to him, that instinct to kill exorcists, to destroy Innocence. He could feel it burning through him, that terrible _need. _

He had tamped down the murderous impulse and pushed himself up and away from the woman. And what had he done since then? Nothing. He found an overturned dresser on the other side of the blown out room and settled. A good half hour had passed, a good half hour of having that woman at his mercy.

He stared across the room at her. He wasn't sure why he hadn't killed her yet. That Innocence of hers was not a weapon, and yet...

It felt as if it had done him as much damage as that 'exorcism' of Allen Walker's.

His gut twisted. His past. It had never troubled him before. It belonged to his previous life. Something to be dismissed and forgotten. It was a pain that no longer mattered, except... it had mattered. Seeing it again and, even worse, as an outside observer. Everything, all the old feelings... revived and relived.

And _she_ had seen it too.

Just for that he should kill her.

He wanted to kill her.

He didn't want to kill her.

The White and the Black warred in him more fiercely than they had for months.

Of all the Family, Tyki was the one in the most control of his Noah, though, considering the death and destruction he often left in his wake, that wasn't saying much. Then, almost a year ago, his control began to falter. It was first compromised with the extended time devoted to the Earl's death list. That was followed immediately by the drawn out battles with the exorcists in Edo. Finally, on the Ark, in the battle with Allen Walker, the last threads of his control were cut. Intending to exorcise the Noah, Allen only succeeded in upsetting the delicate balance Tyki strove so hard to maintain, and the Dark was set free.

Since that time, when the Noah had consumed him so completely, Tyki had redoubled his efforts to contain it. He did not want to lose himself again. He had always been a bit frightened of his dark side. Now he was absolutely _terrified_. The Earl had called it his 'Awakening' but Tyki was determined to keep it sleeping. Even during those last battles with the exorcists, Tyki did not engage himself unless absolutely necessary and then, when he did, he killed swiftly. No taunting, no lingering, despite the urges of the Noah.

And the urges were strong, there was no denying that. In that final clash, as he watched the others take on Lenalee Lee and General Cross with the full power of their Noahs, he had been practically shaking with the desire to release his own. It had taken the entirety of his will to prevent the Noah from unleashing itself completely on Allen Walker.

_"You're going to have to make a choice sometime, Tyki."_

Wretched, foolish boy. Allen _actually_counted the Noah among the humans he intended to save. Instead the boy had died, though not by Tyki's hands. The Noah of Pleasure watched the tendrils of smoke swirl away above him thoughtfully. Allen Walker had died so strangely. Something important had happened but he was at a loss as to what it might be.

Still, dead was dead. They had won. Or so he had thought at the time. He knew now they hadn't quite won yet. One exorcist remained alive... and the Heart.

The Heart... in this woman's hands. The Earl had been right. It hid itself well.

He could finish it in a moment. The Innocence would be destroyed, and the woman with it.

And why shouldn't he kill her? The Earl's scenario would play out unopposed. After all, wasn't it the reason he wore so much blood on his hands in the first place? Their holy contract with God... the destruction of the world.

The Noah within keened it's approval...

_NeverforgiveNeverforgiveNeverforgive..._

Tyki passed a hand wearily over his face as if he could brush away the darkness. He could not betray his family... betray Road...

Except...

The memories of another family played in his head.

Except...

He had felt... human again. There, within that Innocence, he had felt free of the Noah. Free from that dark pressure within his mind.

He longed for that again.

_Saudade._

An odd, terrible, wonderful idea was taking shape.

As long as that woman lived, as long as that Innocence remained intact, he could hold on to the light a little while longer. He licked his lips nervously. He was in possession of a wild card, the one thing that might overturn the Earl's carefully laid plans. It was the ultimate hand. If he played it, he would either lose everything or win it all.

He couldn't even be sure what could be considered the win... or the loss.

He shuffled aimlessly through the deck as he thought. On impulse he randomly chose a card and flipped it over. He stared at it for a while before breaking into dark, delighted laughter.

The Queen of Hearts.

Feeling oddly satisfied, Tyki leaned back and waited for his exorcist to wake.

* * *

Slowly, uncomfortably, Miranda regained consciousness... again. She was getting rather tired of it. She was sore, and the ground was rough. Would it really be too much to ask, she thought with a flash of irritation, to wake up in a nice warm bed for once? With a groan she carefully sat up.

"Ah, you're awake."

Miranda lifted her head wearily. Tyki was watching her from across the decimated room. His back was against the far broken wall and his arm was draped over the leg he had drawn up in front of him.

For a moment she was envious of his ability to look as elegant and as comfortable in a pile of rubble as he might in a palace.

"Do you know," Tyki began casually, "how long you've been unconscious?"

She shook her head cautiously.

"One hour... and do you _know,_" he leaned forward avidly, "how long it's been since I found you here?"

She shook her head again but he didn't answer immediately. He drew out the moment, taking a last long drag from his cigarette, before flicking it away.

"One hour, _five minutes_."

Miranda blinked.

"Oh, yes," Tyki's grin grew wider. "Consider the time it took for me to offer you assistance, and then our lovely little tumble when you activated your Innocence, not to mention that brief moment when we, ah, returned, before you so rudely passed out. That leaves significantly less than a minute for us to have played in the past. Or, should I say, _my _past."

He slipped down and moved towards her slowly, gracefully, with all the deliberation of a stalking cat. She crawled back, never taking her eyes from him for a moment, and painfully hauled herself onto a lone unbroken chair. It wasn't ideal but it was far less vulnerable than her previous position. Miranda's limbs felt as though they had been weighted with lead but she prepared to defend herself anyway.

And yet... her mind was on fire with curiosity. She'd known the Noah were human, now she'd been shown the proof of it. Tyki had been human. She had felt an immediate affection and sympathy for his younger self. Even now, with the Noah burning through his golden eyes, somehow, she couldn't help but see the human Tyki there as well. She wondered if Allen had seen that all along.

He had come to a stop, far too close for comfort, and his eyes glittered strangely as he looked down at her.

"You were poking around in my private personal past. It was very forward of you I thought, but then," he shrugged. "I've always thought you exorcists had terrible manners."

"I'm sorry." Her response was automatic.

He frowned at her. "Do you mean that I wonder?"

She giggled, perhaps a little hysterically. "Probably not."

"Gallows humour, Lady Exorcist? No matter," he waved his hand airily. "I have a proposition for you. Well," he frowned. "Less a proposition than a declaration I suppose." He grinned. "I am not going to kill you. You are coming to live with me."

Oh no, oh no no no no. "No...,"she stood unsteadily, her breath catching as she realized she had come up within inches of his body "I'll fight you..."she choked, "I'll fight you and you won't have any choice about killing me."

Tyki's eyes narrowed and Miranda's heart beat wildly as his hands caught her shoulders. He pushed her back into the chair. He pressed down firmly, leaning in until they were eye to eye.

"You stupid woman," he growled. "Would you throw away your life so easily? I'm not going to give you a choice about living."

Miranda was intensely aware of the heat radiating from the man. She thought her skin might be burning where he touched her. Still, something coiled within her, preparing to strike. Her leg twitched. Tyki seemed to read her intentions as a flash of alarm crossed his face and he stepped hastily away.

"Ah, no, we're not doing that again."

"I won't be your... doll."

Tyki laughed. "It's Road that has the dolls. If anything, I'm more likely to keep a mistress."

Miranda's stomach fluttered wildly. "I won't be that either!"

"Pity."

Miranda blinked as Tyki unexpectedly settled himself on the ground in front of her, sitting crossed legged in the dust. He swiftly produced another cigarette and lit it. He gave her a searching look.

"What you are, Lady, is something far more precious than that. You are the last exorcist, and, much more importantly, the keeper of the Heart."

"The Heart?" She looked startled.

"Didn't you realize? The rest of the Innocence was destroyed but yours is still powerful enough to trap a Noah and drag us both through time. I'd say," he added dryly. "As indications go, it's a pretty good one."

Miranda's mind reeled. Her Innocence was the Heart. She had possessed what the both sides had searched for for so long...

"Mien Gott..." she whispered.

She wasn't useless. She was so much worse than that. The Black Order had fallen, her friends had died, the world was lost, because she was too stupid to make use of, to even realize she possessed, the one power that could have saved them all. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think...

"It's all my fault. I killed them all. I..."

"Don't be foolish," Tyki snapped.

It was as if he had dunked her in ice water. Her eyes flew to his in shock.

"You are not responsible." His eyes were locked on hers. "You could only use as much power as the Innocence allowed you to."

"But I was too weak..."

"I've seen you in battle and I have never seen an exorcist operate so consistently at her limit. If your Innocence didn't evolve it was certainly not because you were incapable handling it, or too lazy to."

Miranda was staggered. Tyki Mikk, a Noah, an enemy of both exorcists and Innocence, was telling her she was not to blame. What was most surprising, because he _was_ a Noah, and because he was more likely to tell he she was responsible just to hurt her., she believed him.

"The question, Lady, we should asking is why did it evolve as it did now and not earlier?"

"We?"

"I am going to give you the time and space you need to develop that Innocence of yours."

Miranda gaped at him. "What?" She said weakly, "Why would you... ?"

He gave her a dazzling, boyish smile as he spread his hands wide. "Isn't it obvious? I'm curious! You possess the Heart of Innocence, it moves in time, and it waited, actually _waited _to evolve itself! How can I possibly resist something so mysterious?

"Besides that, well, let's just say I'm not entirely convinced the Earl's scenario suits me, or," he shrugged, "maybe I'm just bored. Without you exorcists about, there is nothing to stand against us. A challenge is far more entertaining, don't you think?"

Miranda couldn't process this.

"This is just... it's just a game?"

"Well, yes, of course, but, this is also a chance, Lady. A chance you would never have had otherwise."

"You say it's a challenge, but if you can destroy me anytime you want..."

"I might, Lady, underestimate you. I might, for the sake of the game, allow your Innocence to progress to a point where I would be unable to stand against it."

Miranda's mind worked furiously. "Wouldn't it be more of a challenge to let me go?"

"What, and play hide and seek, like children? I count to a hundred and you disappear? So you would prefer I walk away, hmm?" Tyki looked thoughtful. "You might just escape at that, however, you are currently weak and most likely hungry, and London is full of akuma who would not hesitate to destroy you. I'd say if you come with me your odds of survival are significantly higher." He smirked at her.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Even if you mean this, the other Noah... the Earl, they would never agree..."

Tyki blinked at her, actually looked at her as if _she_ were the one not making any sense. "Well, I'm not going to tell them, am I? It wouldn't be much of a game then."

This was madness. _He_ was mad. "I'm an exorcist... why would you keep me alive? Won't the others be suspicious?"

"My family will certainly understand the somewhat perverse irony inherent in wanting to 'own' a former exorcist. I think they'll be rather disappointed I got to you first."

Miranda shivered.

"Besides," he shrugged, " I _am_ the Noah of Pleasure. If you were to offer your body in exchange for your life how could I possibly refuse?" He graced her with a suggestive curl of his lips.

The blood drained from Miranda's face.

"What," she said weakly, "are you going to do with me?"

"Nothing," he purred. "That you don't want me to."

Miranda stared at him in horror, ignoring her fiercely fluttering stomach.

Tyki scowled at her reaction. "I have no interest in forcibly bedding a screaming, crying woman if that's what you're worried about. Despite what I imply to the others, I won't lay a hand on you."

Miranda gasped as he immediately contradicted himself and captured her own hand. She shuddered as he traced lazy circles with his fingers across her palm. It tickled exquisitely even through the leather of her glove.

"It is not, Lady," he murmured. "that I would not _enjoy_ seducing you," Miranda flushed deeply. "But that is not the game I am seeking to play." He released her abruptly.

"If you are constantly concerned about my intentions then it may affect your work with the Innocence, and that," he smiled, "is the point of all this, is it not?"

Miranda clutched her hand to her, trying to ignore that it was still tingling madly. Of course this was a game. It was a game designed for her to lose. He was a Noah. He would play with her, torture her in the most subtle of ways and yet...

"Why are you really doing this?" she whispered.

Tyki frowned and looked away. They sat in silence as the Noah concentrated on smoking his cigarette.

When he again met her eyes his gaze was clear and candid.

"I don't know Miranda Lotto," he admitted. "But if you and your Innocence die, then the Earl's scenario will be the only future."

He sighed.

"You will live. There is no choice about that. The only choice you have is whether you will divide your efforts fighting me or put all your determination into developing an Innocence that may actually save this world of yours."

Miranda took a deep breath. Her mind, her reason, screamed at her. Tyki could not be trusted, but somehow, though, somewhere deep, something in his words rang true. No choice, but one chance, as impossible as it might be.

No way but forward.

_I'll keep walking, Allen. _

"Yes."

Tyki smiled warmly. "You will trust me then?"

Miranda nodded jerkily. "I'll trust you... Tyki."

"Ah." Tyki closed his eyes and took a shaking breath. When he spoke again his voice sounded strained. "If we are agreed then..."

He rose abruptly. With one swift movement Tyki plucked the Time Record from Miranda's arm and dashed it to the ground. She barely had time to cry out before his heel came down hard on it. There was a brief flash of light and it shattered.

She wailed. With a cruel smirk Tyki crouched down. When he stood she saw her Innocence intact in the palm of his hand.

"The Heart, hmm?" His eyes glittered and his fingers twitched convulsively about the precious thing. Miranda tensed herself to leap at him. Then, with an dismissive shrug, he tossed the Innocence to her.

With a gasp she flung out her hands. She managed to just catch it, but overbalanced in the process and landed face first in the dirt.

"I'd tuck that away if I were you." Tyki's voice was thick with amusement. "It wouldn't do for the Earl to see it at this stage of the game."

Miranda sat up painfully and slipped the Innocence into a pouch on her belt. Tyki crouched before her again, handkerchief at the ready. Before she could protest he captured her chin with long elegant fingers and began gently cleaning the dirt from her face.

"Ah," he frowned, pausing in his ministrations. "You've cut yourself." She winced as he dragged a finger along the scratch in her cheek. With horrified fascination she watched as he studied the finger then, humming lightly, carefully licked the blood from it.

He offered her a wicked grin. "Very sweet, Lady Exorcist. Don't worry, it's nothing very much. We'll get you cleaned up properly at home."

"Home?" Miranda was feeling a bit lightheaded.

Tyki ignored her as he got to his feet and briskly dusted himself down. He smiled brightly as he held out his hand to her. She reached up, then hesitated.

"Come along, Miranda." Tyki closed the distance himself and twined his hand about hers.

"After all, we can't keep the Earl waiting."

* * *

**German **_Mien Gott –_ My God

**Portuguese **_Saudade – _(A word for a feeling not found in any other language.) A longing for what was or might have been, and carries the hope that what has been lost might return, even as the one who hopes knows it is impossible.

**A/N – **I love this word. I think it describes Tyki and his Black and White sides perfectly.

Current writing soundtrack – The entire album 'Ash Wednesday' by Elvis Perkins, in particular the songs **While You Were Sleeping,** **May Day! **and **It's Only Me. **Thanks again! Next up – Miranda meets the Family...


	4. Among the Mad

Spoiler Warning: Up to date through Chapter 162... and now it's on hiatus... darn it... I want this zombie/vampire/ghost storyline done so I can get my Noah fix... grrr...

Disclaimer: Not mine... if it was it would be all Tyki, all the time... um... so it's probably good it isn't. This plot however is mine, as is the idea that Tyki and Miranda make a hot couple... but that one I'm willing to share...

**A/N: **It had become clear to me I am a slow updater. I suppose I get far too picky about what I want to post, which is both good and bad. I really don't want to write myself into a corner and put in something that won't work later on down the road. Therefore if you can forgive me my snail's pace I can promise you the best story I can write.

Also another big thank you to my reviewers, I don't tend to respond personally (god you should see me signing greeting cards) I do appreciate and love every one of my reviews. Everyone has been so positive but I don't mind a little criticism too... It helps me become a better writer. Thanks again!

**WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME... **

"_But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.  
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."  
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.  
"You must be," said the Cat. "or you wouldn't have come..."_

**- Lewis Carroll, _Alice in Wonderland_**

* * *

London was in ruins, it's streets strewn with rubble. It's populace, once numbering in the millions, had long since fled, driven out by horrors beyond their comprehension.

The end of an empire.

Akuma hunted for stragglers, but ignored the one man and one woman still moving openly through the abandoned city.

Miranda trailed behind Tyki, head bowed. Her hand was still held firmly in Tyki's own, forcing her to keep up to his long, purposeful strides. Her body took up the pace automatically, allowing her to settle her thoughts. She was afraid, she could admit it to herself. She was trusting Tyki on the basis of nothing more than instinct. Even worse, it was _her_ instinct, which, she suspected, was just as clumsy as the rest of her. Still, as Tyki had made abundantly clear, she had no choice.

She could live with him willingly or unwillingly. At least the first offered her some measure of freedom, some control. Or maybe that was just an illusion. She would be a prisoner either way. So did that mean, by cooperating with the Noah, she was betraying her lost friends, betraying God? Would trusting Tyki mean she would lose the trust of her Innocence? If that happened she could become a Fallen One.

And yet... her thoughts swirled back... instinct told her to trust. Instinct whispered that there was something in Tyki's eyes. He was conflicted. He doubted the Earl. It was a very slight doubt it seemed, but, it was enough to keep her alive. If she could influence his better nature... Miranda almost laughed aloud at the brazenness of the thought. Imagine, _her_ influencing _him_. Still she could do nothing else. It was part of her own nature. She might fail miserably but at least she always tried.

And buried beneath her thoughts and doubts was the hesitant realization that her hand felt quite nice in Tyki's own...

He came to an abrupt halt and she stumbled hard into his back.

The Noah was staring fixedly at the ground in front of him. She followed his gaze. A pretty blond, blue eyed doll lay in the street, it's bright red dress fluttering. And beyond the doll...

Miranda's hand flew up to her mouth as she gasped.

A woman's crumpled gray stuff dress lay ahead, it's sleeves wrapped around a child's blue patterned pinafore.

Chunks of black ash spilled from both.

Tears began to pool in her eyes. "That's... that's horrible..." she choked.

Tyki looked over his shoulder at her expressionlessly. "Do you cry about everything?"

She jerked back as if he had struck her. She would have pushed away if his grip on her hand hadn't been so tight.

"A mother and her child _died_ here!" Miranda was furious. She had let her guard down with Tyki, lulled by his charm and her sympathy for his human past, but for whatever reason he was helping her now she must never forget he was a Noah. "Are you so completely heartless!? Doesn't it even matter...?" She trailed off miserably.

Tyki was staring at the doll again. He nudged it slightly with his toe and shrugged. "Better dead together than one turning the other into an akuma. This city is crawling with death."

And then he murmured so quietly, it seemed to Miranda he was talking to himself rather than her.

"It's not as if they had a hope of getting away, after all..."

* * *

The sun was already beginning to set when Miranda and Tyki arrived back at St. Paul's, or at least what was left of it. They were at the far edge the square before the main entrance. It was eerily empty, even of akuma.

Her eyes flickered up.

This time it was Miranda who stopped suddenly, then was pulled off balance as Tyki continued on unawares. With a shriek she pitched forward. She careened into Tyki, who barely managed to keep his feet, before she crashed to the ground.

"Oww..."

Tyki stared down at her wide eyed, then a crooked smile graced his lips.

"My Lady _Graceless_...," he murmured.

As he helped her, grinning, to her feet, her eyes turned up once more. Once she was upright Tyki's hands lingered perhaps a little longer than necessary at her waist, but she barely noticed. Her attention was completely riveted on the sky above the cathedral.

"The Ark," she breathed.

It hovered above the steeple in a way that an enormous, solid, cube-like structure really shouldn't.

Tyki released her and followed her gaze. "Rather intimidating, isn't it?" he said dryly.

She nodded, swallowing tightly. "Is... is that where the Earl is?"

"Yes, most likely the rest of the Noah as well... are you afraid?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Good."

He gave her a twisted smile and turned towards the cathedral.

A horrible realization slammed into her gut.

"W-wait!" Miranda caught at Tyki's sleeve. He looked back at her, frowning.

"We can't! They'll know about the Innocence! It's just sitting loose in my pouch... surely they'll..."

"They won't," he interrupted firmly.

"But if they realize," she insisted, "they'll destroy it, they'll kill me...they'll kill _you_ Tyki...

"Worried about me, Miss Miranda?" Tyki seemed pleased. "It doesn't matter, the Noah can't detect Innocence, just as Innocence can't detect the Noah. If neither are exercising their powers, they seem to be naturally shielded from one another. If you recall, Road had to trick you to find out where your Innocence was, she couldn't have found it on her own."

"But..."

He slipped his hands into his pockets and cocked his head in amusement.

"Do you really think," he drawled. "I'd risk myself if that weren't the case? And believe me, Lady, killing me would be the kindest punishment they'd come up with."

"I think," she muttered, "that if your life wasn't in danger you wouldn't find this fun..." Miranda clapped her hand over her mouth as Tyki blinked at her in surprise. Where had _that_ come from?

His mouth quirked and he chuckled. "Well, you're just full of surprises aren't you? You're right of course, but don't worry." He leaned in and touched his finger to her chin. "Should we ever be discovered I'll kill you quickly and painlessly myself."

Miranda choked.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better...?"

Tyki grinned in delight.

"Oh, I promise you my dear, this _will_ be fun!"

The Noah of Pleasure took a step back and gave her a mocking bow, then held out his arm.

"Shall we La..."

"Tyyyyyyyyyy-ki!"

In a bluish blur, something launched out of the ether at Tyki, knocking him sideways off his feet. When the dust settled a waif like creature in heavy shoes, striped stockings and an overly frilled skirt and blouse sat atop him triumphantly.

"Hola, Tyki!" she said brightly.

"Hello, Road," Tyki said with as much dignity as he could muster, lying in the middle of the street. He sat up abruptly, tumbling his sister back, but was nearly knocked over again as the girl threw her arms around his neck and began enthusiastically kissing his cheeks. He went wide eyed with shock, then chuckled in delight.

"So I'm worthy of your kisses now, hmm?"

"Well it _is_ a special occasion..."

Miranda hung back, watching the easy banter of the adopted siblings. They really were a family. The Black Order had always spoken of the 'Family of Noah', but this was the first time she appreciated that they might truly care for each other. Miranda felt her stomach twist. Her own family was gone. The 'special occasion' Road spoke of was the victory of the Earl and the Noah over the exorcists, the deaths of her friends. She was reminded again of how very alone she was. She bit back a strangled sob.

Road's golden gaze immediately flew to her.

"What's this, Tyki?"

With a sigh, the Noah of Pleasure hauled himself to his feet

"Allow me to introduce Miss Miranda Lotto."

Road's eyes glinted dangerously "I know _who_ she is, Tyki. I meant, why is an exorcist here?"

"Ex-exorcist actually," Tyki grinned. "We destroyed the Heart, remember? No Innocence, no exorcist." He shrugged. "Simple."

"But why is she alive?"

"Ah well," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "she looked so lost and forlorn I simply_ had _to take her in. She'll make an excellent pet, don't you think?"

Road gave her older brother a frankly disbelieving look.

"Tyki, you _never_ keep pets."

"Well, as you said before, this is a special occasion."

Road sniffed and turned a critical eye on Miranda.

Miranda stiffened, and the scars on her hands began to itch. Road Kamelot. While the girl's attention was focused elsewhere she could simply dismiss her as a cruel child, and she'd had enough experience with children over the years to know that they could be very cruel indeed, but when the Noah looked at her like _that... _Miranda trembled.

Road wrinkled her nose. "She's _dirty_."

"She _has _been fighting for several days, Road."

"So have we!"

"Now, now..." Tyki wagged his finger in amused admonishment. "We've had a nice warm, comfortable Ark to return to..."

"And she's too skinny!"

" Not all of her," Miranda flushed as his golden eyes swept over her body, glinting suggestively. "But you're right. I'll have to feed her up and fill out that figure a bit."

Her heart began to beat faster under his hungry gaze.

Road rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance.

"Tyki," she whined. "Do you mean you'd rather play with her than me?"

Miranda watched with interest as Tyki was consumed by coughing fit.

"Road," he finally managed, rather breathlessly, "that is not precisely..."

He was cut off abruptly as a mangled doll smacked him in the face.

"To make it up to me," she said with an evil smirk, " you can do Lero's voice."

"Abso-_lut-_ly not!"

Road stamped her foot. "Tyyyyyyy-ki!"

She turned to Miranda, and snarled threateningly, "You want him to, don't you?"

"Y- yes?"

Road crowed with delight. "See Tyki? Even your pet wants you to play!"

Tyki gave Miranda a scathing look. "Traitor...," he hissed.

"I'm sorry!" She wailed.

With a scowl Tyki thrust the doll towards Road, shaking it savagely. "_Tyki is tired, Lero! Tyki is hungry, Lero! Miss Road is annoying, Lero!_"

Tyki lobbed the doll at his sister.

With a shriek of delight, Road caught it and twirled ahead laughing.

Tyki sighed. "Well," he said wearily, "let's go see the family." He strode ahead, Miranda bobbing nervously in his wake.

The main doors of St. Paul's were hanging off their hinges. An elegantly dressed man hovered anxiously outside. He was tall and lean and pale and his hair, tied back, hung well below his shoulders. He relaxed immediately on seeing the young Noah.

"Road dear, you worried me, where-ever did you run off to?" He made as if to embrace her but the girl danced out of his reach.

"I found Tyki," she trilled, "and he found an _exorcist_! I'm going to tell the Duke!"

She turned suddenly and pointed an imperious finger at Tyki. "He won't play with me, so you'll have to punish him Father!" With a giggle she disappeared inside.

Miranda blinked. "Father?"

"I'll explain later," Tyki said shortly.

He seemed to be tensing himself and the reason why became swiftly apparent as the older Noah focused on Tyki and, grinning, threw his arms wide.

"Little brother!" he sang. He bounded towards them giddily.

"Tyki, my precio...mmff..."

Tyki's hand was in the other Noah's face, literally holding him away at arms length. The man smirked behind Tyki's palm before his tongue snaked out and licked it.

With a startled oath, Tyki whipped his hand away, wiping it on his pant leg furiously.

"You're disgusting brother Sherrill," he growled.

Sherrill shrugged, carefully adjusting his monocle.

"Well, you won't let me kiss you properly."

"That would be even_ more_ disgusting."

The older Noah pouted. "You're so cruel Tyki, but," he sighed. "Your loveliness still moves me."

Tyki made a strangled sound.

Before Miranda could even register what was happening, Sherrill ducked around his fellow Noah and swept her into his arms.

Tyki, looking more put out than alarmed, made no move to help her.

Sherrill captured her hand and kissed it soundly. Miranda was shaking.

"Enchanted my dear," he purred, "I am Sherrill Kamelot, and you are...?"

"Miranda Lotto," Tyki supplied as he lit a cigarette. "I'd watch her knee if I were you."

Sherrill ignored him. "Adorable, Tyki. Have you finally decided to get married?"

"Certainly not."

"Oh, too bad. We could have been a pair of old married men together... our wives could have become friends...," he giggled. "We could've thrown dinner parties!"

Tyki rolled his eyes.

"Ah, well." Sherrill sighed. "It's probably for the best. We don't want to contaminate the family with an exorcist do we?" His eyes glittered and Miranda bit her lip to keep from crying out as his hold on her waist tightened painfully.

He kept the hand he had kissed wrapped in his own. "You," he purred, tapping her nose with his finger as if she were a naughty puppy, "were that exorcist who kept erasing all those injuries your friends had so fairly earned." He sighed. "We all had to work so much harder. It was quite irritating."

His grip on her hand grew even tighter, grinding the bones together. This time she did whimper aloud. Tyki made as if to intervene, but Sherrill had already let her go and stepped away.

Casually, Tyki shifted until he had slightly insinuated himself between his brother and Miranda. She was nervous. This Noah seemed like a careless dandy, but his eyes were keen and calculating, and she had a horrible feeling he was already carefully evaluating Tyki's behavior towards her. He gave Tyki a languid smile.

"Should I ask...?"

Tyki smirked. "Let's just say we've reached a mutually acceptable arrangement."

"Smart girl," Sherrill nodded, "I certainly wouldn't say no to you, Tyki..."

Tyki sighed. "Give it a rest, brother."

Sherrill gave her a shrewd glance. "Good looking, but she _is_ an exorcist..."

"Well, that's what makes her so interesting."

Sherrill raised an eyebrow. "It was probably a good thing Road went ahead. I wouldn't like to see how the Duke would have taken it without her preparing the way. You haven't exactly been in his good books lately, little brother."

The Noah of Pleasure frowned. "I don't see what he has to complain about, the Black Order is gone after all."

"Well, you know how he likes to see us at our full... ah... potential. You've been holding back, Tyki, don't think the Duke hasn't noticed."

Unconsciously, it seemed to Miranda, Tyki took her hand again, pulling her minutely closer to him. She noticed Sherrill's gaze flicker over the gesture.

"I don't know what you're up to Tyki..." He waved off the immediate protest. "Frankly, I don't _want_ to know. Just... be careful."

He leered suddenly. "You still owe me years of brotherly love."

"Pervert." Tyki said easily.

"Tease." Grinning, Sherrill started through the doors.

Taking a last drag, Tyki dropped the cigarette and followed, pulling Miranda behind him.

"How's Tricia..."

Miranda moved forward as if in a daze. She felt like a mouse in the clutches of cats. The Noah walked casually up the nave, talking normally as they passed through heartrending devastation Miranda herself would not examine too closely.

She was terrified.

Of course she was terrified of walking into a room full of Noah as an exorcist, and she was most certainly terrified of the Earl, but in an unexpected way she was terrified of Tyki as well. Or, more, of what Tyki had become for her in the space of a few short hours.

She had become completely dependent on him. Her life depended on the whims of a Noah she was quite certain was completely mad. He was by turns kind and cruel. He could be indifferent to human suffering and his part in it, yet the odd affection she had seen with his family had been true. For the moment he was her guardian, but, later, when he finally tired of the game...

Panic began to rise. What had she done? This would never work! Never! She felt the urge to break away and run shrieking out of the church. Her heart was slamming against her chest, beating higher and higher. It was going to beat her to death...

Very slightly Tyki shifted his grip on her hand and rested his thumb against her palm. Gently, he began rubbing it in gentle circles. It was seductively soothing, and she felt her panic begin to subside.

He said something to his brother, turning. Briefly he caught her eye, and, with the barest movement, he shook his head. She understood him perfectly in that moment. She might be dependent on him but he was dependent on her as well. Right now, it was as much his risk as hers. She had to play her part or this really wouldn't work. She forced herself to calm.

They entered the Dome.

As Sherrill and Tyki paused, Miranda involuntarily looked up. The Dome arched far above their heads, exquisite in detail and beautiful despite the gaping hole on one side. She couldn't help being drawn to it. It was also a nice distraction from the Noah that were lounging about on the pews around them.

Her gaze slid to the twilight sky through the hole and thought she saw a shimmering mist. It was shifting and dancing, mesmerizing her, sparking in her eyes, blinding her. She looked away and down. Her breath caught. In her eyes the cathedral was whole, intact.

The vision faded almost as quickly as it had come and when her eyes cleared she noticed their way blocked by two raggedly dressed, smirking teenage boys. One looked much like the other Noah, with short black hair and narrowed golden eyes, but the other wore long oddly blond hair, his mouth horribly stitched. Both had their eyes outlined heavily with kohl.

Jasdebi.

As one they drew their guns.

"Heh, you're late Tyki!"

"Late, late, late," the blond singsonged.

"Hello brats." Tyki's eyes flickered over the barrels of the guns dispassionately. "I'm impressed, you two are in far better shape than I would have expected after the beating Cross gave you."

"Nice talk," the dark headed one snarled... Debitto, Miranda recalled, "from someone who couldn't even _kill_ their exorcist."

Miranda's heart stopped.

"True enough, but _wait_..." Tyki's manner became one of exaggerated comprehension, "wasn't it _Sherrill_ who actually defeated Cross while you two were off licking your wounds?" Tyki smirked at them. "Or am I mistaken..."

"STUPID TYKI!"

Debitto looked as though he were about to lunge but the blond's eyes had zeroed in on Miranda.

"Hee, who's the girl?"

Debitto shot a shocked look at his brother, then he too looked at Miranda.

His mouth dropped open.

"THE HELL? TYKI THAT'S AN EXORCIST!"

Well if the Noah hadn't been aware of her presence before... Tyki muttered an impressive range of curses under his breath as they quickly became the center of attention. Miranda realized she should have been more frightened than she was, but her mind was still swirling around what the boy had said. What exorcist hadn't Tyki killed? Why?

She looked up at him. Tyki was glowering at the twins as they grinned and giggled.

What didn't she know?

"So Tyki, you really can't kill exorcists anymore?"

"Pretty exorcist, you gonna share your exorcist?"

"That's enough."

Sherrill's tone was low but carried the iron weight of authority. The twins fell silent.

"This really isn't the time or place. Jasdero... Debitto... you need to learn to show respect for your elders."

The twins muttered.

"I'm sorry what was that?"

"Yes sir," they growled in unison.

"That's better, now off you go. Shoo..."

The boys began to slouch away before they turned in unison, smirking.

"Tyki's going to be..."

"...in troooou-ble."

With a shriek of laughter they tore away.

Tyki sighed. "Sherrill, how do you get them to listen to you?"

"Perhaps because I speak to them with authority and don't descend to their childish level?"

"Never mind..."

"You did ask, Tyki..."

"I said never mind, Sherrill."

"Faaaaaa-ther!" Suddenly Road was among them, spinning into a delighted Sherrill's arms.

"Precious thing," he cooed as he swept her up. "How did it go?"

Road sighed and turned to Tyki with a serious expression.

"_He_ wants to talk to you."

The entire atmosphere of the room changed as the Noah seemed to hum with anticipation. Miranda's eyes were drawn inexorably up the aisle. With mounting horror she stared at the approaching nightmare.

Tyki tugged her forward and met it head on.

"Ah, my dear Duke Millennium, she followed me home, may I keep her?"

Miranda shrunk back a bit behind Tyki under the interested gazes of so many Noah, not to mention the Earl's sharply assessing eyes, golden behind pince-nez spectacles. He was round and he wore a jovial demon's face fixed in a wide grin. She had never been this close to the Millennium Earl before and she found herself staring at the large top hat strangely dressed in bright orange flowers.

"An exorcist..." The Earl's tone was light but Miranda felt Tyki's grip tighten. So he was afraid of him, too. Oddly enough it actually reassured her. He wasn't about to betray her. It meant he intended to go through with his inexplicable plan...

"This is the reason you're late I suppose."

Tyki shrugged. "Well, as soon as I heard about it I thought I should take a look."

The Earl's eyes flashed behind his glasses.

"And you didn't think of informing me first?"

"You were rather busy with the akuma, Duke."

Miranda trembled as the Earl studied her once more.

"Road tells me you've decided to allow this exorcist to live for your own amusement."

"Yes," Tyki drawled lazily, "but she's not really an exorcist anymore, her Innocence was destroyed, of course, when Allen Walker's was. Without it she's useless."

Miranda winced at his choice of words.

"Useless! Oh I remember!" Road giggled and began to sing mockingly.

"Miranda, Miranda,

The unlucky woman Miranda  
She is hated, dark and gloomy.  
Looking for work again today?  
You'll just get fired anyway!"

"Miranda, Miranda,  
Bad luck Miranda.  
Guys won't look at you, you're a downer and a klutz..."

"That's enough, Road."

Tyki's tone was even but, for a moment, Miranda thought she heard a slight sharpness. He was smiling lazily. Probably not.

The Earl sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes, Tyki dear, I do not understand your fascination with these humans..."

"The Black Order is gone Duke. You know how easily I am bored." Tyki smirked. " This former exorcist should make a lovely diversion."

The Earl chuckled. "My goodness, my family is terribly spoiled isn't it? Very well, you may keep her. As for you my dear..."

Miranda barely registered that the Earl was speaking to her directly, when he reached out, gripped her upper arm and pulled her from Tyki's grasp.

Tyki started and the Earl giggled. "Ah, so possessive, I'm just borrowing her for a moment."

The Earl caught her chin and lifted her face within inches of his own. His eyes seared into her soul. Miranda couldn't breath. She was shaking so badly she thought she would shake apart.

_He knows! He knows! He knows! _

Her mind was screaming. She felt tears begin to bead at the corners of her eyes. She was going to die...

Abruptly he released her. She collapsed to her knees on the cathedral floor, stunned.

"Just on the verge of breaking Tyki, a very good choice for a pet."

Tyki bent his head in acknowledgment. "Thank you, Duke."

"Oh!" Miranda gasped as she was suddenly hauled to her feet by two sets of hands.

"Oi Tyki," the dark haired one called. "Can we play with your exorcist too?"

She staggered as Jasdebi draped themselves around her.

Jasdero giggled manically. "Hee! Play! Let's play Miss Exorcist!"

Miranda watched in horror as a pair of guns began to sweep up towards her.

They dropped again almost immediately as Tyki swiftly cuffed both boys across the back of the head.

"Hands off brats," he snarled.

Sherrill, who had been watching the proceedings silently, chuckled.

"Ah, little brother, if you haven't got the authority I suppose violence works just as well."

Under Tyki's scowl, the teens released her and backed away, pouting

"No fun Tyki..."

"No fun! No fun!"

"Now, now children," the Earl wagged his finger in admonishment. "it's rude play with someone else's property without permission."

Miranda was beginning to dislike being discussed as though she were a possession.

The Earl turned a benign smile on Tyki. "Will you be joining us at the House?"

"Ah, actually no. As you see Duke, I very seldom have toys to myself." He gave Road and the twins a hard look. Road stuck out her tongue and the boys offered him identical rude gestures. "I'd like to keep her out of temptation's way."

The Earl sighed. "Leaving us again then, Tyki?"

Tyki grinned widely. "I think I'd like to enjoy the world in the time that's left."

The Earl clucked his tongue. "You love the world too much Tyki-pet. Please don't forget it's true form."

There was the barest pause and Miranda risked a glance at the Noah of Pleasure. His smile had become rather fixed.

"I am always keenly aware of it my dear Duke... and please... stop calling me 'pet'."

The Earl's gaze was piercing. Miranda trembled. Any moment now he was going to sniff out the Innocence, accuse Tyki of being a traitor...

The Earl chuckled and gave Tyki a hard clap on the shoulder. He stumbled slightly as the twins snickered.

"I will expect you to keep in touch this time Tyki-pet. That means dinner with the family at least once a week..."

The Earl sounded for all the world like a doting parent, still Miranda shivered as the air seemed to grow colder.

"Also, don't think that because the threat of the Black Order has been eliminated our work is done. I will be sure to contact you if any little jobs come up..."

Tyki rubbed his shoulder and gave the Earl a pained smile. "Yes, yes Duke. As you say...Bye then."

Swiftly he grabbed Miranda's hand and neatly escaped towards the apse.

As Tyki dragged her away, Miranda fancied she heard Road begin another round of 'Miranda, Miranda', this time joined enthusiastically by those wretched twins. She sighed.

St. Paul's was breathtakingly large and it seemed to take forever before they reached the end of aisle, where the strange and oddly geometric door to the Ark hovered in front of the altar. Tyki's whole attitude seemed to relax once they reached it. He paused on the threshold and grinned at her.

"Almost home, Lady Exorcist."

_Home. _

Miranda pondered that as Tyki drew her up the steps...

...into another world.

* * *

Music: The album 'The Historical Conquests' by Josh Ritter, in particular **To the Dogs or Whoever**

**A/N: **I have no idea how to spell new Noah's name... I've read Sheril and Cyril but I've spelled it as I first read in scanlation – Sherrill. I really adore this character and I hope I've done him justice, not to mention the rest of the Noah. Hope you've enjoyed them!

Also the Miranda song was culled from both the manga and the anime. The lyrics change a bit so I decided to use both. Road's redition seemed to need a second chorus...


	5. Whispers in the Dark

Spoiler Warning: Nothing really for this chapter, but the story itself will have very up to date spoilers. Certain revelations are just _begging_ to be written about...

Disclaimer: Once again, not mine, otherwise the Noah would be getting way more panel time and Tyki and Miranda would be the series official OTP...

**A/N:** Four months, oh dear God, four _months..._ When I mentioned being a slow updater last time this is certainly not what I meant. Real life completely kicked me around this summer, nothing bad, just _stressful_ and _busy. _I have thought about the story a lot though, and made notes, there were just too many other things running around in my head to sit down and write properly. Thank you so much for your patience and your lovely reviews. Don't worry, I love this story too much to abandon it. Hopefully it was worth the wait...

**WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME...**

_He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep  
__pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart,  
__and in our own despair, against our will,  
__comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God._

**-Aeschylus**

* * *

_He broke bread with the family. He was an honoured guest. The daughter watched him with wide eyed, innocent curiosity. He smiled at her and she flushed prettily. The entire family was slavishly grateful for his appearance. An angel at the table meant God's blessing. It proved their precious patriarch wasn't mad after all._

_Fools._

_God didn't listen. He cared for no one. He certainly wouldn't spare an angel to ease an old man's dementia or his family's broken heart. Not that God commanded angels anymore. They too had been separated from him, even as humans had been._

_They had been one, once. _

_They had been God. _

_And then they had fallen._

* * *

A young woman stepped daintily down the shattered remains of London's High Street as the early morning light played across the destruction. She paused by a shattered shop window and examined herself in the miraculously intact mirror within. She touched her skin thoughtfully. The human skin she wore was pretty.

_Sister._

The word flickered across her mind and she shrugged it away. The soul that powered her mattered not at all, nor did the body that housed her. Whatever the connection between the two, it was no longer important.

All that mattered was the Earl.

And the Noah.

And the kill.

She sighed.

The akuma was bored.

And hungry.

There were too many other akuma about and too few human prey to divide between them for her to feed properly. When added to the Earl's orders to leave enough of them behind to despair and call on his services... She sighed again. Weren't the akuma he already had enough? Ah well. Who was she to question the actions of the Millennium Earl... or the Noah for that matter?

She felt a faint hint of warmth pass over the skin of her human face. She wondered if her precious Lord Tyki had found the Exorcist woman. Perhaps... she might take a little peek.

The human form folded away, revealing only her sharp metallic features. Her wings snapped and clattered as they unfurled from her back and she launched herself into the early morning air. After a few minutes she had located the building.

Quietly she alighted on what was left of the roof and peered through the gaping hole blown in it.

Nothing.

The woman and her Lord Tyki were long gone. Well, she couldn't have expected them to linger overnight. She sighed in disappointment then started as a flicker of light caught her eye.

She looked closer. There! Something small and round and golden. With wings.

It was fluttering in circles around the spot she had first seen the exorcist.

She inched closer, watching it intently. It was an exorcist's golem. She licked her lips. It looked tasty.

As if sensing her it froze, hovering a moment in place, then it was gone like a glittery shot. With a gleeful trill she pelted madly after it.

They ducked and spun and wove through the city. She chased it down narrow alleys and through half collapsed buildings. It was fast but so was she. Slowly she gained on the tiny thing, her outstretched claws almost brushing it's wings.

"I'm going to eat you little gol-em!" she sang.

As if in response it suddenly pulled itself up short and she catapulted past it into a very solid wall, crashed through, swiftly covered in dust and bricks and mortar. As she sat stunned in the rubble it flipped it's tail at her and whisked away. With a shrill shriek and a string of foul curses she launched after it once more.

She made up ground again quickly and bared her teeth. Oh, she was going to _enjoy _eating this one. It was almost within reach...

As she was about to clamp down on that annoying little tail, something heavy barreled into her.

She tumbled from the sky and hit the ground hard, the heavy thing falling on her.

She snarled and pushed it violently away. She stared.

It was the stupid wolf akuma that had been talking to Lord Tyki. It looked at her hopefully.

"Did we catch little gold food thing?"

With a furious hiss, she struck out and raked her claws across his muzzle.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

He fell back with a whimper, tail between his legs.

As the other akuma slunk away from her she scanned the area and growled in frustration. The golem was gone.

The wolf-thing began to whine. "Hungry! Wanted to eat little gold ball!"

She flicked her wings, scowling. Stupid akuma. Absently she licked his oily blood from her fingers. She froze and cocked her head in thought.

Of course there were other ways of feeding. Other ways of evolving.

A wide sharp grin spread across her face. The wolf akuma chuffed nervously and smiled slowly in return.

She pounced.

There were a series of panicked metallic howls, but they died out quickly and soon there were only the terrible sounds of crunching and tearing.

The golden golem twitched nervously from it's hiding place and sped quickly away from the carnage, orienting itself until it was heading southeast. She was somewhere in that direction.

His master had ordered him.

He had to find his master.

Glittering in the early morning sun, the golem flew on.

* * *

_It was dark, so dark._

_Miranda was sitting in the dark._

_Lost in the dark._

_And she was not alone. _

_Around her there were low murmurs, rustling clothes..._

_She pulled her coat tighter about herself. There was soft wool beneath her fingers. Her old coat. She shifted nervously on her hard seat It creaked ominously. There was more creaking around her, then a sudden brush of contact on one side, then the other. She bit down hard on her lip to prevent a scream. Her senses strained. Where _was_ she? _

_And then there was light._

_Dim gas lamps flickered on above her. She craned her head to look. High above she could just make out an intricate framework of wooden poles and fabric stretched between them._

_It was a tent. A very large tent. And stretching around it were long wooden benches supporting shifting, whispering crowds of humanity._

_How had she come here?_

_Now brighter lights were coming up, illuminating a sawdust covered floor below her. As she watched, a clown tumbled in, a Pierrot, a boy. He flipped, twisting in the air like a cat and, like a cat, landed on his feet. The boy laughed, smiling brightly despite the painted tears upon his face._

_The crowd cheered and laughed as the young clown tripped and danced his way around the ring._

_He was familiar... Miranda gasped as the boy's mussed brown hair flashed white._

_Allen Walker._

_She blinked. Two Allens danced before her. One, the laughing happy boy clown leaping through the air for amusement and the other, the Crowned Clown, whose acrobatics looked more like the feints and dodges of battle._

_Pierrot Allen paused and from nowhere, shot streamers and sparkling confetti into the crowd._

_The people laughed as they were covered in glitter. They screamed too. _

_Miranda was frozen as she watched the overlapping images._

_People still sat in their seats, still laughed and applauded but transposed behind them Miranda saw them twisting into nightmarish metallic shapes. They shrieked and writhed as Exorcist Allen invoked Cross Grave through them again and again._

_Miranda squeezed her eyes shut and clapped her hands over her ears against the onslaught._

_Then she was moving. She had to get out. She fled, stumbling, pushing through the crowds, eyes filled with tears as she tried to escape the horrors of sound and vision._

_She skidded down the rickety steps and through the canvas covered exit, praying for the silence of night air._

_Mirrors._

_Everywhere mirrors. A maze of mirrors. She turned in a panic and came face to face with herself._

_The self she had been, the self she hated._

_Her hair was pulled back in a too tight bun, emphasizing her pinched and hollow face. Black upon black circles made her eyes look sunken and small and her shoulders hunched in an ugly black dress._

_She whipped away in pain and tried to find a way through the distorted images of herself, reflecting into infinity around her._

_Soon she was seeing her exorcist self in the mirrors and that was better. She was stronger like this, happier. This Miranda had a purpose, a family. The panic began to subside. She began to move more confidently through the labyrinth. _

_She was at the end. One last mirror stood before her. She stepped firmly up to it. She was certain she would see her true face in this one, and then she would be free._

_A black featureless form loomed over her reflection. Empty white eyes peered out at her and an empty white smile split across the face. The black of the figure shifted and swirled. She stepped away in fear. What was this?_

_The smile grew impossibly wider._

"_**Hello Miranda..."**_

_The voice resonated through her being. The figure moved forward, pressing against the glass. It began to stretch. She stumbled in horror and fell back through the canvas with a cry._

_Suddenly she was outside and it was night. It took her only a moment to notice this before she landed flat on her back and a swirl of paper... no, cards... scattered in slow motion around her._

"_Ah, this is a pleasant surprise."_

_She turned her head. A man wearing thick glasses sat cross legged upon the ground, his hair loose and tangled, his rough clothes patched and work stained. A cigarette dangled from his smiling mouth. As he slid the spectacles from his eyes, the ash gray skin of the Noah and a stigmata of crosses flickered over his face like the shadows of fast moving clouds._

_Tyki Mikk._

_Gently he caught her arm with one hand and slid the other beneath her back. She stared at his handsome face as he helped her sit up, mesmerized as it shimmered from human to Noah and back again._

"_She's spoiled the game Tyki-pon."_

_Miranda gasped and turned. It had been the voice of the Millennium Earl but an older man, well dressed and cloaked in shadows, sat on the other side of her. His monocle flashed as he frowned._

"_Then we'll have a new game." Tyki's hand pressed reassuringly warm against her back. His other hand released her arm and slid along her jaw, turning her face towards him again._

"_Do you want to play a game, pretty lady?"_

_Without waiting for an answer he released her and began to gather the fallen cards. Unthinkingly she grasped at a few laying around her and glanced at them._

_Lavi._

_Her breath caught. She looked at another._

_Road._

_Tyki plucked them from her hands and she caught a glimpse of a few others. All wore the faces of Exorcists and Noah, akuma and scientists._

_He offered her a wistful smile. "I'm sorry, you have no choice but to play."_

_He flicked the cards he had just picked up and they spread out and covered her like a blanket. They layered over her, pressing her. She seemed to shrink, flatten out. It grew dark. Something was holding her in place. She slapped her hands against the walls that had grown up around her. She tried to scream but she had no voice._

_Then it was warm, so warm as she felt Tyki's hand, impossibly large, sliding around her, lifting her. Pressed her against his chest. It had to be his chest because she could hear the steady beat of his heart. She leaned her cheek against that strange barrier, pressing against that heat. Her mind was growing dark again but it didn't matter._

_She felt... safe._

_And all was black._

* * *

Miranda awoke slowly. She was warm and comfortable and a cool sweet breeze tickled across her skin. Her eyes drifted open and she regarded the room through a pleasant sleepy haze. Sheer white curtains fluttered and the soft light that shone through them danced. She sighed and stretched in contentment. Through the sleep induced muddle of her mind something worried at her. She ignored it in favour of burrowing deeper into the pillow. Still, it would not allow itself to be set aside. The back of her neck began to tingle as the 'something' pushed it's way into her consciousness.

She turned over carefully.

Tyki Mikk was stretched out next to her, head propped up in his hand, watching her with dark eyes.

"Bom Dia," he purred.

With a shriek, Miranda flung herself away and tumbled off the side of the bed.

As she lay on the floor in an undignified heap, the entirety of the previous day flooded back into her mind with crystal clarity, including her devil's bargain with Tyki. She groaned and banged her head back, uttering an oath she was absolutely certain the nuns would not have approved of.

Tyki's head appeared over the side of the bed and he peered down on her with undisguised amusement. She blinked at him. He looked... different. His thick black hair was loose and somewhat tousled, but it had been much the same yesterday. It hung down around his face, almost obscuring those laughing dark eyes.

Those dark _brown_ eyes.

Miranda blinked again. The stigmata of crosses that had marred his forehead were gone and his ash gray skin had paled to a light tan.

He looked as he had in that past.

He looked human.

He grinned at her boyishly.

"Sleep well?"

"Um... yes, I think so..."

"Ah," he nodded. "Good."

He smirked.

"And you're fine down there are you?"

"Yes...," she muttered.

"I wonder," he sighed, "if I should be offended that this is your first reaction to finding me in bed with you?"

Miranda stiffened. In bed. With Tyki. She sat up abruptly, making a narrow miss of clipping Tyki's chin with her head, and took swift stock of her body. She didn't _feel_ any different... and she was still dressed... mostly. She caught sight of her coat, gloves and utility belt folded neatly on a nearby chair, her boots side by side beneath it. She was still modestly dressed in her uniform pants and snug white shift. Automatically her hand went to her throat, her precious key was still there. She wrapped her arms about herself and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now I _am_ offended..." Miranda caught her breath and turned her head. In her new position she had gotten unnervingly closer to Tyki. He was peering at her with his dark eyes, through his dark lashes. She trembled.

"I made you a promise Lady Exorcist, I haven't laid a hand on you," he hesitated. "Well, other than the putting you to bed and undressing you bit, but," he grinned cheerily, "my hands didn't wander much otherwise!"

"Didn't wander _much,_"she repeated weakly.

He pulled away from the edge and sat back on his haunches, pressing one of his large hands against his chest.

"I am a man, my Lady," he declaimed theatrically. "When faced with the vision of such a lovely creature tumbled across my bed how could I possibly resist?"

It was a rake's line. Miranda had worked in many taverns over the years and had heard them all. Not directed at her, of course. Still, false as it was, it was rather nice to be referred to as a 'lovely creature'. She knew she ought to be more shocked by his behavior, instead she found her attention drawn to the chest beneath his hand. The white shirt he wore was untucked and partially unbuttoned and she caught a glimpse of tanned skin and smooth muscle.

She swallowed tightly.

"In any case," he continued with a purr, "If I'd been of a mind to seduce you last night you would not have forgotten it." He smirked at her and she felt an odd twisting, shivering sensation in her gut.

She couldn't possibly be thinking...

Her stomach rumbled...loudly.

She flushed as Tyki burst out laughing.

"I see I have competition for your affections."

With a chuckle, he rolled off the other side of the bed and padded, barefoot, across the room. He plucked a large, red apple from the top of a dresser, hesitating only a moment before also catching up a small, wickedly sharp looking knife. Miranda tensed.

Tyki turned back to her and his mouth quirked.

"Do you need some help getting up?"

With a rush of embarrassment, Miranda realized she was still sitting on the floor. Blushing furiously, she scrambled ungracefully back onto the mattress, tucking her feet up beneath her. Tyki moved towards the bed, smirking, and perched himself on the end. Deftly he cut a neat slice from the fruit and held it out to her on the knife's edge.

Miranda stared at the offering, watching rivulets of juice pool along the glistening blade.

"Go on," he murmured, "it's only an apple."

Unexpectedly Miranda found herself giggling. Tyki raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she choked, "but I keep thinking of all those stories of young women being offered bits of fruit by suspicious persons." She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle the slightly panicked giggles.

Tyki's smile curved wickedly.

"Oh _really_," he purred. "What stories are those then?"

He leaned closer to her, and Miranda's laughter died with a squeak.

"Snow White? No? Perhaps you're thinking of the original story of Eve, hmmm, or, better yet, Persephone. Captured by Hades to become his Queen of the dark, she eats the fruit of the underworld and is forced to remain by his side for eternity. Is that what you're imagining?"

Tyki brought the knife to his lips and, as Miranda watched, mesmerized, his tongue slipped out and drew the apple into his mouth.

She released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when he sat back.

He hummed contentedly as he munched, cutting another piece. He held it out to her and, shaking slightly, she accepted it.

She began slowly under Tyki's intent gaze but soon she was wolfing down the pieces almost as quickly as the Noah could cut them.

When she finished the last of it, she was surprised to find she felt pleasantly full.

"I didn't think that would be enough."

Tyki smiled. "You didn't eat at all yesterday, did you? If you'd had anything heavier you'd have made yourself sick. Ah," Tyki reached out suddenly and captured her chin," You have some juice... right... here." The pad of his thumb dragged across her lips. Miranda jerked back.

Tyki licked the juice from his thumb with a grin as he stood and moved towards the dresser. Miranda tried to ignore the tingle of her lips as she watched him wring out a washcloth in the basin. In a moment he had returned to his place.

"Hold out your hands," he ordered.

Miranda, spurred by years of training by the nuns of St. Hildegard's, obeyed with alacrity.

Tyki chuckled as he he caught her hands, rubbing the damp cloth over the fingers of one, then the other.

"You have a little juice here as well..." He trailed off and his brows knit together. His hand tightened about her own and, carefully, he began to slide his thumb over the rough, puckered skin of her palm. Miranda bit her lip to keep from mewling. Without the leather barrier of her gloves... Her hands had healed ages ago but the palms were still almost painfully sensitive and, she felt a stab of shame, terribly ugly.

Miranda tried to pull away but Tyki held fast.

"These scars," he murmured. "This was our Road's work, wasn't it?"

"Yes." She whispered. She could never forget the white hot pain as the child Noah's candle spikes pierced her hands, anchoring her firmly to her precious clock. She could never forget Road's sing-song voice, taunting her... _Now you'll never be apart... _Miranda shuddered.

Tyki grimaced. "Well, at least she made a good job of it."

Miranda snatched her hand back with a gasp of outrage.

"I only meant," he sighed. "that, had she been any less precise, your hands would have been damaged beyond repair. You might never have been able to move them again."

"Ah." Miranda bent her head and clutched her hands to her chest.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Well," Tyki stood abruptly and stretched, " I' ll run you a bath and then we can see if we can't find something more suitable for you to wear."

Miranda's head shot up, the offense of a moment ago swiftly dismissed.

"A bath...," she breathed reverently.

Tyki grinned at her. "I thought you'd like that. Once you're ready we'll have a bit more substantial lunch and then make a trip into town for supplies."

"Into town..." Miranda felt a sudden rush of curiosity.

"Tyki," she began hesitantly. "Where are we? Where... um... where did you bring me?"

"Well, home of course," he said expansively, "but if you wish to be exact, we are a few miles outside of the town of Piódão, in the Serra do Açor of the Beira Alta."

Miranda blinked at him and he chuckled, making a formal bow and holding out his hand to her.

"In other words, welcome to my homeland, my Lady Miranda.

"Welcome to Portugal."

* * *

It was... exquisite.

Miranda sighed as the cooling water enveloped her body. The tension that had twisted her muscles over the past few days... no, the past few _weeks_, had melted away. When she had first slipped into the water it had been almost hotter than she could stand it... and it was glorious. She scrubbed over and over until each and every speck of dirt, each trace of blood was gone. She could not wash away the bruises and they stood out darkly against her pale skin but they would soon fade away.

The point was she felt _clean_, cleaner than she had in _ages_. The sour smell that had been clinging to her had also washed away and now there was only sweet scent of almonds from the rich soaps Tyki had left for her. She breathed in slowly, deeply. It was intoxicating. Her eyes fluttered shut. She was floating, drifting...

"Shall I wash your back?"

Miranda started, and slipped under, coming up again with a jerk, sputtering and flailing as the water sloshed noisily around her.

"Are you alright? I'll come in..."

Miranda splashed the water in her panic.

"NO! STAY OUT! STAY OUT! STAY OUUUUT!!"

There was a significant silence on the other side of the door, then a low chuckle.

"If you insist..."

"Why are you lurking out there?"

"I am not 'lurking'." Tyki sounded offended. "I merely wished to see if you needed anything. It's been about an hour, Miranda. We still have quite a bit to do today."

Guilt washed over her. She was taking too long. She was wasting Tyki's time. "I'm sorry," she moaned. "I'll get out now...!"

As Miranda fumbled for the plug, there was a long suffering sigh from the Noah. "Don't rush if you're not ready..." The was a pause. "I could still do your back if you like."

She watched in horror as Tyki's hand slid through the door.

"No! It's fine! DON'T COME IN!," she wailed.

"Very well," There was laughter in his reply. "Try not to be too much longer..." With a jaunty wave his hand slipped back out of sight.

Miranda breathed a sigh of relief. Allowing the bath to drain away, she rinsed the soapy water from her hair and body. As she dried off with one of the luxuiriously soft towels she blushed to think that Tyki was on the other side of door while she was in here, like _this_.

She supposed she should be frightened to be in such a vulnerable position around that dangerous man, but he had already demonstrated his willingness to take care of her... at least as long as he needed her.

For the moment she was safe.

Though, considering the way he looked at her, her virtue might be a little less secure.

Trembling, she fixed the key about her neck, covered herself with the soft, pale cream robe he had also left, and clutched her uniform to her chest. Taking a deep shaking breath she slipped into the hall.

Tyki was leaning casually on the opposite wall. He regarded her through half lidded eyes and smiled.

"Ahhh, you must have scrubbed your face very hard to get that sort of colour in it."

Miranda's blush grew deeper.

"I took the opportunity last night, after I'd put you to bed, to return to the main house and raid Lulubelle's wardrobe."

Tyki's smile turned to a sneer as his gaze fell upon the soiled clothes folded in her arms.

"Those filthy things will, of course, be burned."

Oh no, he _couldn't_...Her hold on the uniform tightened. "N... no," she managed.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you defying me, my Lady?"

She shook her head sharply. "It's not that, it's just... this is all I have left... of them... "

He looked at her a long moment, then, unexpectedly reached out and slipped his finger beneath the cord at her neck. She froze as his touch brushed along her collarbone until he reached the clock key.

"You have this as well," he murmured. "It's even more important to you, I think. What do you need with a pile of rags?"

She stared at him, mute.

Tyki drew back and shrugged. "Keep it then, but pack it away. The Noah within me is well aware of your status as an Exorcist, but it's wise not to tempt it too much." His mouth quirked. "There'll be enough work suppressing it around the Innocence.

"Now shall we get you dressed? Or," His gaze drifted to the gaping neck of her robe. " Do you plan on wandering about in that the rest of the day? Not that I have any objections..."

She covered herself swiftly as Tyki chuckled and started up the narrow hall.

Miranda followed tentatively as he reached the door at the end and pushed it open. "This will be your room, though I'm afraid I mussed the bed a bit while I was sleeping."

She stepped in. It was a very pretty little room, decorated in muted greens and cream painted furniture. She liked it immediately. Then she registered what he had said.

She blinked at him. "But I thought you... I mean when I woke up you were..."

He shrugged. "I came in to wake you, but you looked so comfortable I simply didn't have the heart to." He smirked. "Besides, you're adorable when you sleep."

As she flushed again, this was getting _ridiculous_, he hauled a large carpet bag onto the bed. The covers were wrinkled. He _had _slept here. Miranda felt a surge of relief. He was capable of being a gentleman after all.

Tyki hummed as he sorted through the bag, plucking out random dresses. Miranda waited in weary amusement as he held them up to her, examined them with a critical eye, then either lay them out neatly or tossed them unceremoniously aside.

"I thought you didn't keep dolls..."

"Hmmm...?" Tyki glanced up from the soft looking, olive green silk he'd been sliding over his fingers.

"I feel as though we're playing 'dress-up'..."

Tyki smirked and held the silk up to her. Miranda felt a sudden flicker of yearning. She'd always wanted to wear something beautiful, something delicate...

"We will be residing together, and I'll be _damned_ if I allow you to wander about in that horrible uniform ever again... Perfect."

With a nod, he lay the dress carefully aside.

Miranda felt a surge of warmth towards Tyki. He was being so kind...

Her warm feelings froze immediately as he held up the next dress.

"I a_bsolutely_ refuse."

Tyki seemed disappointed.

"Are you sure...?"

"Yes!"

He pouted slightly. "I thought women liked lace..."

"Not there..."she sputtered, folding her arms across her chest instinctively, her face aflame, "and not... not _only_ lace..."

"Oh, well that's just the back..." He turned it round.

Miranda wasn't sure what expression crossed her face but Tyki looked even more disturbed than when she declared him her enemy.

"Ah," he murmured weakly, quickly dropping the offending garment, "I'll take that as a 'no'." He gave her a long look. "Scary..."

Somehow Miranda felt better.

"Don't look so pleased about it," he grumbled, retrieving the now empty carpet bag and stuffing the rejected items roughly in.

Miranda watched him struggling with the unwieldy things. The man could be rude and seemed to delight in embarrassing her but he was treating her far better than she expected. Even among his own...

"Tyki..."

"Hmmm?"

"Thank you."

The Noah paused and gave her a wide eyed look that was almost comical on his handsome face.

"You put yourself at risk, you protected me..." Miranda wrung her hands together uncomfortably, "...from your family."

He blinked at her. "Well certainly. I didn't want anyone getting too close. You were carrying Innocence on your person after all. They can't detect it but if it fell, literally, into their laps, I'm almost certain they'd notice." He smirked. " Well, maybe not the twins..."

"Oh..." Miranda sighed... and here she thought he was being _chivalrous_.

Tyki's eyes flickered over her lazily. Miranda gasped as she found herself suddenly trapped against the wall, Tyki's arms braced on either side of her. His eyes had gone strangely dark.

"Besides," he purred. "You belong to me now..."

He pressed closer, leaning down until his nose was almost brushing her own. Her breathing grew erratic, her heart knocking rapidly against her chest. He was tall, how had she not noticed how tall? Her head barely cleared his shoulders.

"...and I don't like to share."

The low thrum of his voice shuddered through her. She trembled as a strange heat enveloped her.. Their bodies were barely an inch apart...

He turned away abruptly, caught up the bag and casually hoisted it over his shoulder.

"I'll leave you to get dressed. We'll meet downstairs in about half an hour." He smiled cooly and, without waiting for a reply, strolled out the door. Miranda took a shaking breath and did a very good job of not sliding down the wall.

Had he almost...? Her stomach fluttered and she ruthlessly stamped down the traitorous part of her mind that was disappointed. She threw herself against the door, slamming it shut, and leaned her forehead against the cool wood. Her eyes closed and she sighed again.

It seemed that living with Tyki was going to be_ interesting_.

Oh dear.

* * *

As Tyki Mikk dressed he found his hands were trembling. He grinned. This game was providing a rush he hadn't felt in _ages_. Even the Noah within him was satisfied and, for the moment, silent.

True, he felt a twist of guilt over deceiving his family and no small measure of fear over deceiving the Earl but, somehow, that merely enhanced the excitement of it all.

No longer was the future an uninteresting certainty. It was an unknown once more, a challenge, all thanks to that woman and her Heart of Innocence.

Miranda Lotto.

It had truly been a stroke of luck that she held the Heart. Any other Exorcist would have either fought him to their deaths or would have been so broken as to be useless.

To be honest had it been any other Exorcist he may not have extended the offer.

Both Miranda and the form of her Innocence intrigued him. The woman was a delightful amusement. He had surprised himself by how quickly he had grown fond of her company. Another Exorcist might very well have encouraged his cruelty, but with Miranda it seemed easy to remain his White self.

Or perhaps he had simply lived on the Black side for too long.

He needed both his Black and White selves to make life fun. Miranda's presence had at least made the White interesting again.

He sighed. This was now the closest he could get to that other life. Returning to Eeze and the others had become impossible. Now that his Blackest self had been tapped he could no longer trust himself in the close quarters of a mining camp. That transient existence didn't exactly attract the gentlest natures and being challenged was a daily ritual.

He could not longer trust his control.

Tyki shuddered. He'd already had an 'accident'. He would not expose his friends to such a thing.

He did what he could from a distance. Arranged work in a warmer climate for Eeze's sake, sent money regularly. That was the only contact he would allow himself.

Tyki scowled. He did not like dwelling on such things. He pushed aside his dark thoughts and reconsidered the pretty Exorcist upstairs.

He smirked to recall the flush of embarrassment that rose so easily to her cheeks.

He thoroughly enjoyed teasing her.

Well perhaps a bit more than teasing.

Tyki found himself growing a bit warm at the thought of her standing shyly before him, scrubbed pink, damp hair falling appealingly over her face, wearing the scent of almonds and that robe that clung so nicely to her curves.

He had been sorely tempted to throw her on that bed and ravage her right there.

It would have been an exquisite pleasure but a fleeting one. He was perfectly capable of controlling those sorts of urges and, should he not, he had any number of lovers to choose from. Seducing Miranda would be an unforgivable distraction. She had but one true purpose to him and that was as the controller of the Heart.

The Heart of Innocence... such power! Imagine playing with time in such a way... He still smarted a bit from the foray into his past, but he could still appreciate sheer immensity of the event. What would the Heart be capable of with work? What, indeed, was that woman capable of?

It would be a pity to kill her.

His hands stilled on the buttons of his shirt and he frowned.

Despite his games, in the end, could he ever really turn against the Earl?

Did he even _want_ to turn against the Earl?

In the end, was he a sheep of Noah or a human of free will?

He sighed and resumed dressing.

_'You're going to have to make a choice sometime, Tyki.'_

In the end, he supposed, was when he would finally find out.

* * *

Music: **Whispers in the Dark **by Skillet (Yes_ Skillet, _bad name, great song), **The Story **by Brandi Carlisle (This is Miranda's song, it fits her _perfectly..._)


	6. Homecoming

**Spoiler Warning: **Lots of 'em. Particularly the ones about Allen. Up to date with manga chapter 178.

**Disclaimer: **-man, Tyki and Miranda all belong to Katsura Hoshino. I get nothing from this but the fun of playing in her world and the pleasure of sharing my odd ideas with other awesome fans of this series.

**A/N: **It's been another long wait but then this chapter is a particularly long one, with a lot of info... whether or not that means I need to edit better remains to be seen. Thanks all once again for patience and your lovely reviews. I hope all of you will join me in sending out best wishes for Hoshino sensei to get better very soon.

**WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME...**

_His native home deep imag'd in his soul.  
_**- Homer**

_Sadness is always the legacy of the past;  
__regrets are the pain of the memory.  
__- _**Anonymous**

* * *

It was a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly and took the edge of chill from the spring air, still...

Miranda drew her shawl closer about her shoulders as she picked up her pace to match Tyki's stride.

Once again she was following the Noah, but this time the journey was far more pleasant. The achingly beautiful forest track was a far cry from the horrors of London, and their destination, the little village of Piódão, was a far more pleasant prospect than the previous encounter with the Earl.

Her thoughts had also changed. Before her mind had been spinning in endless circles of trust and betrayal and choice. Now...

She sighed. The worry could not stay in her head.

Miranda took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. It was sweet, due no doubt to the white blossoming trees scattered among the pine and oak that surrounded them.

The past few weeks were like a nightmare burned away in the light of day.

For herself, physically at least, Miranda felt better than she had in ages, well rested, clean, and, amazingly, comfortably dressed.

It surprised her that Tyki had thought to provide more than just dresses. Besides the shawl he'd also, apparently, ransacked the Noah of Lust's wardrobe for a pair of sensible boots and snug leather gloves. He'd even, she reflected, with a sort of dazed embarrassment, arranged the appropriate undergarments.

Of course, _those_, she noted wryly, were less sensible than frilly.

At least he'd been circumspect enough to avoid any leather and black lace concoctions. Unlike that horrible dress that he'd somehow left behind on the floor of her room.

She'd kicked the atrocity firmly under the bed. What _had_Lulubelle been thinking?

Of course, she herself was trying very hard not to think about what Tyki had done, or, she blushed, _not _done.

She was also trying not to think about how her traitorous body had responded to him. He _was _handsome... but he was... he...

"... don't you think?"

Miranda started and stopped, looking up. Tyki had paused and was peering back at her, a wide grin spread across his face.

She grew flustered. "I... I'm sorry... I wasn't..."

Tyki chuckled. "You weren't paying attention. Never mind..."

With a squeak of surprise Miranda suddenly found Tyki's arm around her waist and he was hoisting her up and over a particularly muddy patch of ground. He released her with a wink and strode on ahead, lighting a cigarette as his long black coat flared out behind him.

Miranda stared after him a long moment before picking up her skirts and scrambling to catch up.

One of the most significant differences between yesterday and today seemed to be Tyki himself.

Before, Tyki had been elegant, beautiful but dark and cold. He had been like a polished knife with sharp neat edges. He had been Noah. Now...

His long legs easily carried him over the rough and uneven ground, smoke curled about his head, and wisped away in his wake. He had the air of a country gentleman with his finely tailored trousers, crisp white shirt and vest beneath the riding coat. However, the pants were tucked into sturdy boots, the vest was unbuttoned, his tie was askew and his hair unruly. If the Noah Tyki had been like a breath tightly held in, the human was an exhalation into comfortable disarray.

She watched as he climbed onto a fall of rocks to reach an ancient looking tree, slapping his hand familiarly against the thick trunk. He threw his head back, looking up into the canopy of twisted branches, bare but for those delicate white blossoms.

His eyes grew soft and his smile warmed.

Miranda's breath caught.

He seemed so happy like this. So human.

She could almost forget he was a monster.

"What kind of tree is it?"

"Hmmm?" Tyki looked down at her, blinking as though he'd forgotten she was even there.

Oh. Miranda bit her lower lip, she hadn't meant to speak aloud.

"The tree..." she ventured again, nervously. "What is it?"

"Ah." He jumped from his perch with an easy grace. "This is an almond tree."

He gestured around them. "Usually they don't grow in the mountains, it's too cold, but these," He looked up again and smiled fondly, "are stubborn survivors. Some years there won't be anything, but if the spring is early and warm they have a chance to bloom."

He looked towards her again. "Almond blossoms are a symbol of hope you know."

Miranda felt a soft fluttering in her chest. "That's lovely," she murmured.

Tyki's warm expression slid into a wicked smirk as he caught her hand and and pulled it to his chest. Miranda gasped and stumbled forward slightly. Tyki tapped the reticule bound about her wrist.

"Ah, my Lady," he purred, "What do you need with flowers when you carry your 'hope' right here?"

Miranda took a sharp, nervous breath. She hadn't told Tyki _specifically_ that she was carrying the Heart, but he seemed to know it just the same.

"I didn't think it was safe to leave it behind," she said defensively.

Tyki chuckled and released her.

"I wasn't implying otherwise." Tucking his hands carelessly into his pockets, he turned on his heel and strode away, leaving Miranda feeling unbalanced and a bit...

"Come along, Miranda." Tyki kept going, not even bothering to look back.

She hesitated, confused, attempting to place an unfamiliar twitch of emotion that narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. Could she possibly...?

Far ahead, Tyki began to whistle in a way that wasn't so much jaunty as... provoking.

Ah, that was the feeling, _irritation. _

With a long, heartfelt sigh, Miranda Lotto started after the Noah once more.

* * *

Tyki was in excellent spirits.

The cool clean air, the sun, the soft white flowers and the rich permanent green of the pine. It was glorious.

It was as if he had stepped out of a deep dark place and was embracing the light for the first time in ages.

He knew this forest, knew these paths. If he did not dwell on the memories of his past here, it was still etched into his soul so deeply not even the blackness of the Noah could wipe it out.

He was _home_.

That he even had a home outside of the clan was, among the Noah, a significant exception.

When a Noah awoke, the usual process was the complete erasure of their human past and everyone associated with it. Their lives were to begin then. Those of the clan were to know nothing of the others previous lives and would not have dared even to inquire.

Of course that didn't mean there wasn't enthusiastic gossip on the matter. Skinn's awakening, according to Road, was accompanied by a pair of particularly spectacular fires, a dock yard and a catholic church. There were no survivors. He also recalled Sherrill mentioning some small, isolated town in the Americas disappearing without a trace the night Jasdebi were welcomed into fold.

The rest of the Noah had similar experiences, though he'd yet to hear even a whisper of Road's past.

Tyki's situation was, by all accounts, unique, possessed, as he was, of a widely well known social position, if not a title, not to mention a rather extensive fortune.

The Duke had found both to be of use and so Tyki 's history, and Piódão, remained intact.

To be perfectly honest he felt it was the only good those things had ever been to him. He didn't give a damn about the money and, really, he could happily spend the rest of his life avoiding the various high society parties the Duke and Sherrill seemed determined to drag him to every few weeks.

He shuddered. Most certainly he could do without the marriage minded mamas who pursued him across the dance floors, young unmarried daughters bobbing in their wakes. It seemed to occur with more frequency now that Brother Sherrill had decided he ought to have a wife. A rather fruitless notion, Tyki thought, as it seemed the Duke's scenario would be coming to a climax in the next few months.

The end of the world.

He shook away the dark turn of his thoughts. This place was worth more to him than any of that. This place was his own.

He was very clear about it's position in his life. It lay between his vagabond and Noah worlds. In this place he could simply _be_. Since awakening as Noah eight years previous he had returned, at least once or twice a year for a few days at a time. It felt... cleansing, somehow.

When he thought about such things, which was not often, Tyki wondered if perhaps it was how he was able to hold onto his humanity longer than the others.

If this was the reason that he now wavered.

Well, what it afforded him now was a place to play his game beyond the watchful eyes of the Duke.

A place to hide his precious trump card.

Tyki looked back over his shoulder. Miranda trailed a ways behind him. In his distraction he'd ranged farther ahead than he thought.

Pausing, he lit another cigarette and waited for her to catch up.

He watched her tread carefully over the uneven ground, occasionally picking up her skirts to avoid stumbling over roots growing across the trail. Tyki smirked. She did look better in a dress.

Of course, she had picked the most somber of the dresses, a long sleeved, high necked, unrelieved black. It's only consolation was that it flattered her figure perfectly with it's snug bodice, tapered waist and flaring skirt.

He wondered if the choice of the black had been a conscious one. If she were in mourning for her fallen comrades. She didn't seem to be very upset at the moment, but then, he supposed she was in a sort of shock

At least her shawl, a brightly patterned thing that reminded him pleasantly of the gypsy style, added some colour. As he had hoped, it lent her pale complexion a bit of warmth and she desperately needed that.

He frowned.

Despite her sleep and the bit of food and coffee she'd managed to keep down, she still looked weary. The dark circles beneath her eyes bore mute testimony to the hardships she'd endured while being hunted by his clan. She was also far too thin. When he'd lifted her earlier he was shocked at how little she had weighed. The feel of her ribs beneath his hands had irritated him for some reason.

The hunt had also bruised and battered her. He supposed that was another reason for her choice in dresses. The scratch across her face was her only really visible injury, a rough red line stretching beneath her right eye and over her cheek. He wondered idly if it would scar. She might draw a bit of attention in the village, but he supposed her obvious clumsiness would keep the inevitable speculation on a more innocent track.

He sighed again and fidgeted. For some reason she had slowed considerably. Perhaps she was reluctant to join him again. He frowned, the thought was... irksome. Then again... As he watched her he noted her attention fixed on the ground in front of her. Tyki narrowed his eyes, attempting to pick out what had fascinated her so...

Tyki chuckled. Ahead of her on the path, a small, brown speckled quail skittered along.

The woman was positively _entranced_ by the thing.

Bemused, Tyki watched her follow the little creature off the path and into a thicket. There was a hunting trail most likely...

"What _are_ you doing, Lady Exorcist?"

She looked up, startled.

"These are the mountains, you know." He called lazily, dropping the spent cigarette to the ground and grinding it beneath his heel. "It really isn't safe to wander off the main trails like that."

Even from this distance Tyki could tell she was blushing again. He grinned. He rather enjoyed the constant stain on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I'll come back around."

She took a step forward and there was an echoing crack like a gunshot as her foot apparently found a dead branch.

A whole covey of quail exploded from scrub around her, filling the air with clouds of brown speckled feather and the thunder of wing-beats, muffling the shriek that escaped her lips.

Within seconds they were gone... and so was Miranda.

Tyki blinked. Well, she'd been there a _moment_ ago.

Tyki entered the thicket at a run, allowing his body to phase unfettered through the tangling underbrush.

He skidded to a halt. Where Miranda had stood there was now only a bush with a distinctly rumpled air about it. Shifting his feet cautiously he sensed a definite dip along it's roots. He wrenched the branches aside.

And looked down.

Of course there was a hill. The trees and shrubbery that grew from it were quite tall and created the illusion of flat ground.

Miranda lay at the bottom in a disheveled heap, flailing madly.

Her skirts over her head.

Tyki's mouth quirked involuntarily and he resisted the urge to sink to the ground in a fit of ungentlemanly laughter. Swiftly, he climbed down to her side.

At the sound of his approach she stilled. Tyki's gaze swept her trembling form and lingered on her legs. While the skirt of the dress had gone over her head, her petticoat bunched practically around her hips, affording him a very good look indeed.

They were very nice legs, encased in tight black stockings and, luckily, uninjured.

Reluctantly he dragged his gaze away and crouched next to her. He twitched the skirt from her face and grinned widely down at the panting woman. Her face had gone an intriguing shade of red.

Tyki chuckled. "Are you alright?"

Miranda grabbed at the fabric and pulled it as if to cover her face again, before apparently realizing it was her _skirt_, and desperately scrambled to cover her legs.

Tyki watched with amusement.

"Quê pena," he sighed, "hiding those lovely legs."

"Don't look!" she wailed.

"Well," he purred, "if you don't want me to look..."

Swiftly his hand caught her ankle. She squeaked in shock as he leaned over her, dragging his hand up her leg and over her thigh. Reluctantly he shifted his hand away, caught the hem of her petticoat and pulled it firmly into place, promptly followed by her skirt.

His hand tingling slightly from the rather enjoyable warmth, Tyki grinned as he took in her wide eyes and soft mouth parted in an 'O' of surprise. She was still flat on her back in the grass and, with a chuckle, the Noah caught up one of her hands, slid his own beneath her back and pulled her upright.

Myriad emotions flickered across her face, settling finally, intriguingly, into recognition. How odd. He released her and sat back on his heels. She cocked her head slightly as a frown creased her brow.

Tyki began to laugh.

Miranda's expression returned to her earlier irritation as her eyes narrowed.

"Stop laughing at me,"she said, failing entirely to sound stern. She flushed again.

"You look like a haystack," he managed.

A look of horror swept her face and her hands flew to her hair.

Tyki laughed even harder. Her hair stuck out at all angles, decorated with leaves and bits of twig. The ribbon that had been holding her hair in place now dangled sadly from one errant lock.

"Stop that," she moaned, covering her face with her hands to hide the deepening colour of her cheeks.

Biting back his amusement, Tyki leaned close and pulled her hands away. She looked absolutely miserable. He smirked.

"May I...?" He murmured. He slid around until he sat behind her. She leaned instinctively away from him. He grasped her hair and tugged her back.

"Ow...!"

"Sit still," he ordered. She trembled but kept her place as he pulled the black ribbon out and held it in his teeth.

She gasped as he stroked through her soft brown curls. He felt her shudder under his touch as his fingers slid through her hair, gently untangling it from the debris. Tyki focused on the pleasure of the silky strands against his skin.

He was reminded suddenly of their fall into the past. Catching at the strands of her mind. He could taste the emotion, the colour of her character. The vibrations of inarticulate thought, sliding against his own. The exquisite sensation of it.

The heat began to rise in him and he imagined pulling her hair aside. He would lower his head and slide his lips along the curve of her jaw. He imagined slipping his hand beneath her skirts and dragging it up her leg again, not stopping this time, making her writhe under his touch...

He hummed lightly, pressing his fingers gently against her scalp. His thumbs danced along the nape of her neck as he caught up her hair to tie the ribbon in place.

She shivered, sighing, and unconsciously leaned back, almost against him.

The character of his desire darkened.

He tamped down a sudden urge to twist his fingers and pull at her hair painfully. Wrenching her head back. Exposing that tempting white throat... He took a deep breath. Her prey-like movements were tempting the predator within him. Somewhere in the recesses of his soul the Noah whined...

He released her abruptly and stood in one fluid motion. She started and twisted to look up at him.

"It's getting late," he said, roughly. He grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet. There was still a light flush to her cheeks. Tyki ignored it and turned away. He gestured vaguely downwards.

"We can head down to the main road from here."

He sighed.

"It would have been faster had we taken this route in the first place but I thought a walk in the forest would be pleasant. I should have realized you require the flattest of surfaces to keep upright."

The silence was deafening. Tyki chanced a look. Miranda's gaze was cast down. She was biting her bottom lip again. He felt his temperature rise once more and suppressed a growl.

Damn it. The game had only just begun and he was already reconsidering his decision not to seduce her.

In this case the future prize was more desirable than the present pleasure... wasn't it?

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I've spoiled your day."

Tyki blinked at her.

"You seemed very happy."

Tyki felt a sudden swift affection for the woman, slightly different from the heat of a moment ago. This was one of the reasons he liked humans so much. They were so completely unpredictable. He expected the apology, the woman was constantly apologizing, but her concern for his happiness... that was a pleasant surprise.

"Never mind," he said cheerfully, his mood abruptly reversed, "we would have had to make our way to the road eventually." He chuckled. "Your shortcut might actually save some time."

She was blushing again. Lovely.

She looked one way and then the other, avoiding his gaze.

"Which... which way?"

He waved vaguely at the thick tangled undergrowth.

"But..." She stared at it. "There isn't a path."

He gave her a long look. "And what do I need with a path?"

Tyki watched with amusement as irritation flickered across her face.

"Well, yes, _you_ won't, but I..."

"Just how limited," he interrupted with a purr. "Do you think my power is?"

"What do you... _Was_!" Tyki scooped her up into his arms like a bride.

She was frozen in shock and Tyki took a moment to enjoy the warmth of the woman pressed against him.

"What are you doing?," she moaned.

"Ah, my Lady, this way neither of us needs a path." Her face paled as she seemed to catch on.

"Nein, nein!," she wailed. Tyki grinned, pleased. He'd managed to frighten her into her native tongue. She balled up her fists and beat ineffectually at his chest, as he strode forward into the bush. His grin grew wider.

Oh, yes. This game _was_ fun.

* * *

It was perhaps one of the most disturbing experiences of her life. That was saying a lot as her life had been_ full_ of disturbing experiences ever since her first encounter with the Innocence.

She trailed along behind Tyki again, trying very hard not to think about it.

Miranda had stopped struggling quickly when they entered the trees. When she felt the first of the branches sliding through her body she realized she desperately did not want Tyki to let go and so she clung to him tightly, pressing her face against his shoulder. His low laughter had reverberated through her body.

It was horrible, she felt like a ghost. Tyki was the only thing that seemed solid to her. She concentrated entirely on him. His warmth, the beat of his heart. Then they'd reached the road and he'd set her down swiftly and unceremoniously and started off again without saying a word.

She felt a familiar tug in her memory, as she did when he'd helped her sit up.

It was like the dream, except she didn't feel the same sense of safety she had then.

It was... troubling.

She remembered the dream now but she couldn't focus on it.

She remembered everything really. Yesterday and the days before that, but her mind seemed to shy away whenever she tried to think too deeply of them.

Miranda was confused and frustrated. What was this? Whenever she tried to wrap her thoughts around what was happening to her, her mind would just... slide.

And so she noticed the way the air moved slightly around her, the taste of it. The blue of the sky. The mountain stretching away above them on one side of the road, and the breaks in the trees on the other that revealed sheer, dangerous dizzying drops.

She shivered at the thought of driving a carriage at any speed along the curving narrow road.

And she noticed Tyki, striding away in front of her with more purpose than he had before. Not even smoking now. The long lean muscles of his back shifting beneath his coat as he moved.

She trembled at the memory of his fingers in her hair, the heat of his body behind her...

What was _wrong_ with her?

She tried to pull her thoughts back to the dream, to her friends, but Tyki had slowed and now they were passing the tree line.

Piódão clung to the side of the mountain below them, a tumbled mass of rock that seemed bleak until one drew close enough to see the walls of the houses were made up of stones in varying shades of brown and rust and gray. All of them had bright blue doors and window frames.

She adored the little village at once.

The road they were walking seemed to eventually end up in the main square but Tyki led her off onto one of the side streets that took them into the village proper.

Miranda followed Tyki down the narrow stairs that wove between the closer built houses while laundry strung high above their heads fluttered in the brisk spring air.

Tyki navigated the labyrinth of streets without hesitation and eventually stopped before one of the large blue doors that looked like any of the other blue doors around it.

He stepped up and rapped smartly.

After a few moments a young woman, apron and nose dusted lightly with flour, opened the door and started in surprise.

"Bom dia." Tyki said pleasantly. "É a Sra. Diaz no repouso?"

He offered her a dazzling smile, and she coloured.

"Sim, sim," she stuttered. "Apenas um momento..."

She turned and fled into the house leaving the door to swing wide. Tyki winked at Miranda and ushered her in, shutting the door behind them. With casual familiarity, he led her into a room off of the narrow hallway.

Miranda shook at the idea of entering someone's home uninvited, but Tyki seemed confident enough... She almost laughed aloud when she realized she was trusting a Noah to observe proper etiquette.

There was a low murmur of voices in the room beyond. Within moments a small, older woman appeared in the doorway. She wore a gray stuff dress and wisps of silvered and black hair escaped from the scarf tied about her head. She stared at Tyki in delight.

"Tyki! Isso não é meu Tyzito!"

"Olá, Tia."

With a grin Tyki stepped forward and caught the woman in a massive hug. She laughed and kissed his cheeks.

They spoke in rapid Portuguese and Miranda held herself quietly next to the wall. She felt as though she were intruding. The woman was familiar to her and it took her a moment realize where.

Tyki's past.

She had been younger then but she had appeared to be fixture in Tyki's life. There had been a man as well. Not the iron haired creature that seemed to cause him pain, but a sturdy, powerful man who wore a kind face, the match to this woman. She could picture them together and... Oh!

The little house Tyki had brought her to. That was where she placed them.

How strange it was, remembering a past that was not her own...

"Você fala o português?"

Miranda started, the woman was eying her curiously.

Shocked at the unexpected attention, Miranda floundered a moment, trying to make sense of the question. Tyki chuckled and apparently answered for her.

"Não, realmente."

The woman gave Tyki a long look, then swiftly boxed his ear . He yelped.

"That is rude Tyzito," she said crisply in perfect, accented English. "Allowing me to speak on when she does not understand..."

Tyki rubbed at the side of his head.

"You say that as though I had a chance to get a word in."

She pursed her lips. "Would you like me to do the other...?"

The Noah sighed, though Miranda noted a spark of amusement in his eyes, and drew himself up.

"Tia, this is Fräulein Miranda Lotto. My housekeeper."

She blinked. Housekeeper?

"And this, Miranda," he murmured, catching up the older woman's hand and kissing it soundly, " is Senhora Maria Ana Diaz. She's been taking care of the house in my absence." He clutched his hand to his chest theatrically. "She's also spurned my most heartfelt declarations of love and broken my heart on several occasions."

There was a sudden clamor of feminine laughter from the room beyond, swiftly silenced. Sra. Diaz sighed at Tyki's pleased smirk.

"Must you do that Tyki?"

He gave the woman a wide eyed, innocent look. "Is it my fault your daughters-in-law eavesdrop?"

She scowled. "_You _have a very bad effect on them." The Noah grinned wolfishly at her and she rolled her eyes. "You're not as handsome as all _that_, Tyzito."

As he began to laugh, Sra. Diaz turned her back on him and smiled warmly at Miranda.

"Fräulein Lotto? You're German then?"

"Ja, but please call me Miranda, Senhora Diaz."

The woman laughed and clasped her hands between her own. "None of that, you must call me Tia."

"Tia." Miranda whispered.

She peered at the woman shyly from beneath her lashes, and wondered how long the woman's kindness would last. Miranda was far too used to this sort of thing.

The wives of her employers, the older women she would work with, she always began well with them.

They would be patient as they taught her, but, as she failed time and again, as she revealed the true extent of her incompetence, patience swiftly became frustration and finally anger. It was as though they felt she had deliberately deceived them. That they had wasted both their time and affection on her.

It was always hard to lose a job but losing those friendships, that was the even more painful.

The woman nodded at her and continued. "And how do you like the cottage?"

"Oh very much," she stammered, still trying to reconcile the normal conversation with the surreal situation. "It's lovely."

Tia Diaz sighed. "That was my home long ago, when my Jorges was the grounds keeper for Tyki's grandfather, Senhor Galhardo."

Well that explained her memories of Tyki's past, this woman and her husband in that place. Then, that cruel man with the iron hair must have been... She glanced at Tyki whose face had become expressionless. She felt a sudden stab of compassion. Yes, she could understand very well how hard one's own family could be...

She started as the woman suddenly cupped her chin, and lifted her face, studying her intently.

"Goodness, you're very thin aren't you? And that's quite the nasty cut there..."

"I found her in the street." Tyki interrupted smoothly. "She'd just lost her job. She was so forlorn I ended up hiring her on the spot." He offered Miranda a wicked grin. "She's proven to be most charming company."

She felt an unexpected shock of pain. The Black Order, her _friends_. Tia Diaz's expression was one of infinite gentleness and sympathy. Without warning tears began to bead in the corners of Miranda's eyes.

Instantly the woman was embracing her as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"There, there. It sounds as though you've had a rough time of it. Don't worry, everything is fine now." She patted her back reassuringly as her tears swiftly faded. "Tyki is a good man. He will be an excellent employer."

Miranda's eyes flickered to Tyki's face. His expression hovered somewhere between a smirk and a frown, as if his feelings were conflicted on the subject of Miranda's pain.

Embarrassed, she disentangled herself from the older woman's arms. "I – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry, caro. Moving to such an isolated place must seem very overwhelming. Tears are going to be a part of it." She turned back to Tyki. "I take it that, since you've hired a housekeeper, you're staying on?"

Tyki smiled at her warmly. "It looks like it, Tia."

She reached out and patted his cheek with affection. "That's good, Tyzito. I've missed you."

"Yes, well..." Miranda stared in amazement as the Noah's face coloured slightly, as if he were now the one embarrassed.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about... Miranda's perfectly capable of looking after things through the week, but if you'd like to come in Saturdays to help with the heavy cleaning I can double what I pay..."

"Don't you dare, you pay me far too much as it is."

He shrugged. "It's only money."

Tia sniffed. "I don't care what sort of patronage you receive from that Duke of yours, money is like water, the slightest change in the weather and it dries up."

"Yes, Tia _caro_." He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll do it, however..."

Miranda didn't hear the rest of the exchange. The Duke. That was the Earl. That was what the Noah called the Earl.

But this woman knew him, or knew of him at least. How was that possible? The Earl belonged to the shadows didn't he? If not, then he... Her eyes flickered up and over the easy and amused face of Tyki Mikk as he allowed himself to be scolded by Sra. Diaz.

Tyki didn't hide in the shadows. Nor did the other Noah. Did the Earl wear a human face too? Did he walk in the light of the world he wanted to cleanse, walk among the people he sought to consume? Did the humans he meet smile at him? Talk to him? Did they shake hands with a creature who wanted to tear their souls away from God?

Though the little house was warm she shivered.

Had she met him unawares, would she have liked that human Duke as much as she liked the human Tyki Mikk?

Tia's warm hands suddenly covering her own dragged her from her darkening thoughts.

"It's been a pleasure Miranda. I will see you later. Now..." She released her hands and began to shoo her and Tyki towards the door, "I have work to do, and you're disrupting my household..." She shot a swift glare towards the doorway at the back of the room where a flurry of activity and stifled giggles announced the swift dispersal of her daughters-in-law.

Within minutes they had been ushered back outside, and they were alone.

Without a word, Tyki turned and made his way down the narrow street and Miranda stumbled after him, more confused than ever before...

* * *

An hour's reflection later, Miranda still did not know what to think. She sat, huddled under her shawl, watching Tyki at a distance as he made arrangements in the market. He chatted animatedly, the center of attention, the prodigal son.

Miranda's mind was spinning. Now that she was alone, out of Tyki's mesmerizing orbit, she couldn't stop thinking. Slowly, the mist that had been protecting her from her pain, obscuring her memories through most of the day, was drifting away.

Allen had mentioned the very dangerous Tyki Mikk lived two lives. They'd all assumed the human life had merely been a mask for the Noah, a whim.

But Tyki seemed happy to be here, and for Tia Diaz he seemed to have a genuine affection. It did not feel like a mask. But it _must _be! Miranda wanted to scream, she _did not_ understand!

How could he live among humans, how could he care about humans and still take part in the Earl's scenario?

_...if you and your Innocence die, then the Earl's scenario will be the only future._

Of course, he did waver, that was the point of her survival wasn't it? There was something there, something that couldn't succumb completely to the dark.

That was something else Allen said, when he'd talked about the Ark, about Tyki's transformation when he'd tried to exorcise him. When the Earl had carried away the defeated Tyki, he'd said Tyki had been trying to suppress the Noah, to suppress it's full power. Allen had believed there was some part of Tyki fighting very hard against what he was becoming.

Allen had wanted to save the Noah. With the knowledge of hindsight Miranda wondered if Allen had sensed the Noah within himself. Perhaps he was hoping to be saved as well.

What was the Noah, that it could twist a good soul into darkness? Even Allen, the kindest, most gentle boy she had known...

She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut against the dazzling sunlight, still the bright chatter of the market assailed her. She needed a quiet place to think...

She twisted and looked up. The church. It dominated the square, an odd looking thing, walls a blinding white and accented with the same blue as the doors and windows of the village. Really, it looked as though it belonged in some seaside Greek town. Among the rich earthy colours of the mountains it was distinctly out of place.

She glanced back across the square. Tyki was thoroughly engaged.

She rose slowly and made her way carefully up the stairs. She pressed against the door and despite it's size and weight it swung open smoothly.

Leaving the heavy thing ajar behind her, she stepped quietly down the aisle towards the nave.

She had been educated in a catholic school, though she was protestant. It was yet another way she had never fit in, still...

She loved the quiet of a church, the dark wood, everything hushed, the scent of incense...

It had been a comfort to her... should be a comfort now but...

St. Paul's.

So many people had died, were dying yet in London. She possessed the Heart of Innocence but she hadn't saved them. Instead she had allied herself with one of those who'd destroyed it... a murderer...

The weight of it caused her knees to buckle and she sat heavily in one of the pews before she could collapse onto the floor.

This pain was overwhelming. She clutched at the pew in front of her and leaned her forehead on her trembling hands. She would have prayed if she thought God might actually listen.

She sat alone in the blessed stillness for a long while, not praying.

She slid one hand to her wrist and traced the outline of the Heart of Innocence in her reticule. It was warm to the touch and pulsed slightly. Why had it chosen _her_? What had she to offer it except guilt and incompetence? Allen had been so much stronger than she was, or Lenalee. Any other exorcist would have been better, would not have had to depend on the enemy for their chance to succeed.

She groaned quietly, she didn't even have the strength to hate the enemy that bound her...

"Miss, are you all right?"

Miranda jerked upright.

A young man was crouched next to her. A young man in a long black cassock.

A priest.

He looked less like a priest than an errant schoolboy with his tousled dirty blond hair and pale blue eyes. His face was warm and kind and creased with concern.

An ally.

"Miss?"

His expression was open and honest and innocent of any knowledge of the darkness descending swiftly upon them all...

"Ah, _this_ is where you went."

Miranda jerked around guiltily. Tyki stood at the threshold of the church.

For a wild, confused moment Miranda though he wouldn't be able to enter. That the holy sanctity of the church would sense the evil in him and bar the way.

He stepped inside.

Miranda stumbled to her feet, the priest standing with her.

In a few easy strides Tyki was at Miranda's side, watching the other man with interest. The priest inclined his head with respect.

"Senhor Galhardo."

"It's Lord Mikk actually." Tyki smiled easily but his eyes glittered. "Bastards tend to take the mother's name, and the title was arranged by my patron."

The priest looked flustered. "Ah forgive me. When I was first assigned to this parish I did research on the area..."

"Ah yes," Tyki murmured in a bored sort of voice, "All the official records are under the name my grandfather hung on me." He cocked his head thoughtfully. "And you are the new Padre,

Rafael Valente." His mouth curved into a cruel smile. "After the Vatican burned I thought the Church had finally collapsed in on itself."

Padre Valente flinched, then sighed and smiled sadly.

"There has been some breakdown it is true, some heretical splits from the main, but the foundations are strong. The Holy Mother Church will rise again."

Tyki eyed him lazily. "That's a pretty speech but you'll forgive me if I don't cheer you on... Miranda!"

Miranda stiffened to automatic attention.

"The arrangements have been completed. We're leaving now."

Without waiting for a response, Tyki turned on his heel and strode out.

Miranda glanced at the Padre. The shadows flickered across his face, creating an impression of black fury, then it was gone. He turned a kind smile to Miranda.

"I hope _we_ shall get along at least, Miss Miranda."

"Yes... I... thank you... for your kindness. And I'm sorry about..."

He shook his head. "It's all right. Go on, I wouldn't want to get you into trouble."

Miranda nodded and, embarrassed, turned and fled the church.

Tyki was waiting for her outside, staring down into the village square as a wagon was being loaded with wood and crates. Miranda stood next to him nervously, her hands clasped tightly in front of her.

"Were you going to ask him for help?" he murmured. He said it casually but Miranda sensed the dangerous edge to his voice.

"Yes," she whispered.

Tyki gave her a sharp look. She took a deep breath and continued.

"But then I realized he wouldn't know about the Order, the Noah, anything. He'd think I was mad and... and even if he didn't... even if he believed... what could he do? I would only put him in danger..."

Tyki chuckled darkly. "You're right about that. I have no great love for priests as it is."

Miranda swallowed nervously. "I... I... think the only way is this way... if... if I have any chance at all, it's only with you."

The Noah smiled, pleased. "Sherrill was right, you are a smart girl." He clutched her upper arm possessively. "You're mine Lady Exorcist..." He turned his gaze on her and she shivered as his eyes flickered gold. "Don't ever forget that."

He released her and trotted down the stairs. She stepped down after.

"You just missed Tia you know, while you were hiding away with God." He grinned boyishly at her, the Noah gone as if it had never been. "She brought us a _cataplana. _A good thing," he sighed. "I have no interest in cooking tonight..."

Miranda had no idea what a cataplana was, food of some sort, and she was sorry to have missed Tia Diaz but she could feel herself drowning again. While the encounter with the priest had been distracting, in the end it only made the guilt within her rip that much more deeply.

Distantly she watched a man approach Tyki and hand him the reins of a large dappled gray horse. He leaned towards it and murmured soothingly, stroking his had along it's neck. It's muscles rippled under his touch. After a moment he stepped into the stirrup and swung himself over it's back.

Then Tyki leaned over and held out his hand to her.

Miranda studied him a moment, then the impatiently pawing mount. She shook her head and stepped back.

The Noah quirked a smile at her. "Are you afraid of me or the horse?"

"Both I think."

Tyki laughed.

Miranda wrapped her arms about her shoulders and tried to keep from shivering as the wind picked up.

"Are you cold?" Without waiting for a reply Tyki dismounted, shrugged off his coat and threw it about her shoulders.

The coat smelled like Tyki but it wasn't... unpleasant. There was some heavy scent that was distinctly male and the sweet, smoky scent of expensive cigarettes. She trembled and she realized she had expected it to smell like dried blood.

"Thank you," she murmured.

There was a light pressure on her back as Tyki guided her silently to the wagon and helped her up.

She huddled down into a clear space between the crates and within minutes they were on their way.

The trip was slow and the wagon jolted violently over the rough road. Tyki rode ahead but occasionally, he would drop back. He would keep pace awhile as he gazed thoughtfully at Miranda, then he would canter ahead once more. She was aware of these things but it was as if it was all happening at a distance.

The flood gates had opened now. Before, her memories had slipped through her fingers like water, like dust... like the time of her dearest companions. Now she could not wrench her mind away. The dream, the deaths of her friends, the horrors of the past few months, the vision in St. Paul's. Even the strange pronouncement of the Noah twins about Tyki's sudden reluctance to kill. All of it spun about her head, beating at the inside of her skull.

She only came out of it long enough to notice the driver scowl and spit as they passed a long disused road, blocked with felled trees. She lifted her head slightly, trying to see what lay at the end but it was twilight now and the long shadows obscured everything.

"What was up there?"

The driver started at her unexpected question. He was silent so long Miranda didn't think he would answer her.

"That's the old villa," he muttered finally, in thickly accented English. "It burned 8 years ago. Many people died." His scowl grew deeper. "Just a fire they said, but you feel too, sim?" He spat again. "Evil thing happen there." He fell silent after that . Miranda glanced back at the gaping maw where the overgrown road disappeared into the trees. She shuddered in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

Only a few minutes later they turned into the trees and shortly they stopped before the little cottage that was now her home.

Her home.

Immediately Tyki was there, helping her from the wagon and pushing her towards the the front door.

"Go lie down," he ordered. "I'll call you later for supper."

In a daze Miranda made her way into the house, up the stairs and into the room.

She collapsed on the bed, clutched at her head and thought she might scream.

Maybe her screaming could drown out the screaming in her mind.

It was too much.

Explosions wracking the Black Order as they fled.

Her friends falling one by one as the Noah and their Akuma hunted them, the threads of energy that represented their lives fading from her Time Record.

Each death was seared into her consciousness. All deaths but three.

As painful as her memories were, not knowing was worse.

What had happened to them? To Lenalee, to Cross?

What had happened to Allen?

How long she lay there she didn't know. A few moments, a few hours, as Hell played out in her mind, the room grew black.

There was a light rap on her door.

"Miranda, come eat."

Somehow Miranda made it downstairs.

Tyki was in a good mood, seating her, chatting about nothing, playing the perfect host.

People in London were dying.

She stared at the food in front of her. It was a sort of stew. She was vaguely aware it smelled good. That she was hungry.

Somewhere in the rubble of London were the bodies of her three friends.

Tyki sat across from her, eating with enthusiasm as he continued to chatter about nothing.

"I think I'll take you up the mountain tomorrow..."

"Stop...," she whispered.

"It should be a mild day, if you like we could pack a lunch...."

"Please just stop it." She was a little louder this time but Tyki pressed on, unheeding.

"There's a plateau up there, overlooking the valley, it really is a lovely..."

"STOP IT!"

Miranda was somehow on her feet, shaking. Tyki watched her, his face empty of expression.

"I am not your guest! I'm a prisoner! Stop treating this like some sort of... of..._ holiday_!"

"I'm assuming," he drawled. "There's a reason for this outburst."

Miranda stared into his cold eyes. She felt nauseous. Her mind was shrieking at her to stop, to leave well enough alone but she couldn't.

If she stopped now she would go mad.

"What... what happened to them? To General Cross, to Lenalee, to Allen? How..." she swallowed convulsively, painfully. "How did they die?"

Tyki sighed heavily and pushed his own plate away. "Now you've spoiled my appetite." With a scowl he picked up his wine glass and took a long drink. Miranda stared at the table in front of her and bit her lip to prevent her automatic apology. There was a sharp clink as the glass was set violently down. She looked up to find him watching her, eyes dark. He growled and stood abruptly, snapping the napkin from his lap and dropping it on the table.

"I'm turning in. I'll leave you to clean up. Try not to break too many plates..." He turned away. Without thought, Miranda lunged after him. She caught his arm and dragged him to a halt.

"You can't..." she panted. Both hands grasped at his arm like a lifeline. She stared at the floor, afraid to look at him. She was terrified but... but...

"I can't go to bed?" He sounded almost amused but his body remained stiff.

"Tell me what happened," she choked.

He was silent a long moment.

"Road trapped that Lee girl in one of her nightmares." He said abruptly. " She killed her with her own fears."

Miranda's heart ached fiercely.

"Cross," he continued, sounding as though he were merely discussing the weather. "Now Cross beat the twins quite handily, but Sherrill managed to catch him unawares and shattered his Innocence. Even without it that man fought on until Sherrill dealt him the killing blow."

Miranda could feel the tears pooling in her eyes. Her poor Lenalee... General Cross.

Still, her mind filled with shining white hair and a gentle smile.

_Stay here Miranda, please._

The boy that had saved her.

"Allen... what happened to Allen?"

"He died."

"But how?" she groaned. "How did he die?"

"Dead is dead, what does it matter now?"

"Please..." she moaned.

Tyki' mouth stretched in a cruel smile.

"You care a great deal for someone so fickle. You know it was Allen's fault the Black Order was destroyed. Had he not betrayed the Earl..."

Miranda closed her eyes in pain.

"Of course," he continued relentlessly, "Allen betrayed the Order first."

She knew that, of course she knew that but...

"But he fought it," she whispered miserably, "He came back..."

"Precisely my point. He hurt the Duke terribly you know, and for what? The Order wasn't about to trust him again, his betrayal, as I understand it, was rather... spectacular."

Miranda winced at the memory.

"That foolish boy wanted to save everyone, and, because he couldn't choose a side, no-one was saved."

Tyki eyed her thoughtfully. "Except you my Lady..."

She pressed her hand over her mouth.

He leaned closer, eyes sliding from brown to gold. "Only you, in fact."

She felt sick, but instead of distracting her as it seemed he'd intended, it only clarified the question in her mind.

Her life, the Heart of Innocence, the _world_ was in this man's hands.

"Did you... did you kill Allen?"

He stared at her.

"No," he said.

Miranda's expression must have betrayed some relief because Tyki's voice grew cold.

"Do not mistake me my dear, I certainly didn't spare him from any misguided sense of _compassion_."

He bared his teeth in a vicious snarl.

"I was prepared to pull out his beating heart with my own hand."

Miranda flinched at the savagery in Tyki's voice.

"You hated him that much?" she whispered

"I LOVED HIM!"

Miranda started at the sudden explosion of raw pain.

"We all loved him," he groaned. "He was Noah... he was family!"

"And then he betrayed us. I'll tell you a secret, my Lady, nothing turns to hate faster than love, if the loved one proves untrue."

Miranda sighed wearily. "Then I don't understand..."

"Understand what?"

Miranda was distracted and entirely missed Tyki's dangerous tone. "This... this scheme of yours. Aren't you betraying your family like Allen betrayed...?"

She cried out in sudden pain as she was slammed against the wall. He pinned her there, his hands pressing sharply into her shoulders, his eyes glittering gold with fury. He leaned in close but, unlike before, there was nothing seductive in the movement. Now, he was nothing less than terrifying.

"Do not say such things to me!" he hissed. "My family is everything! We are meant to be the Duke's precious sacrifices. In the final act of his scenario, when he calls, we will go meekly like lambs to the slaughter!"

He released her and turned away with a shaking hysterical laugh.

"I don't even know what that means. In the end the world is meant to be cleansed... what will be left after that? The Duke ruling alone in the void, with the Memories of Noah? The Pleasure, the Dream, the Bond," he chuckled darkly and turned back to her. "Somehow I don't think that means Tyki, Road or Jasdebi..."

"I thought you believed this was God's design..." she whispered.

"What god? There is only the Earl..."

Tyki snapped his arm out suddenly then, catching her wrist and dragging her against his chest. Miranda tried to push away but his grip on her was like a vise.

He leaned into her, his cheek almost touching her own and she shivered as his heated breath danced along her ear.

"You ought to be more grateful, my dear. After all this 'scheme' of mine, as you call it, is the reason you still live."

There was a moment's hesitation, a moment's silence broken only by their uneven breaths. He pressed her tight against his body and when he sighed deeply, she trembled.

"Remember, my Lady," he said heavily, "you begged me to tell you."

He pulled his head back and caught her chin. He held it roughly in place, forcing her to look at him.

He stared at her, golden eyes cold and empty but still burning into her own. "The only reason I did not take his life with my own two hands was that, at the end of it all, the boy _stopped fighting_..."

Miranda swayed and tried to pull away but the Noah's grip was like iron. _No_, _please, I don't want to know this_, but it was already too late. Her eyes were locked on Tyki's as his lip curled into a mocking sneer.

"At the end of it all, my Lady, Allen Walker... killed himself."

* * *

**Portuguese**  
_Quê pena_ – What a pity.  
_Bom dia. É a Sra. Diaz no repouso?_-Good day/morning. Is Mrs. Diaz at home?  
_Sim, sim, Apenas um momento..._ -Yes, yes, just a moment.  
_Isso não é meu Tyzito!_- It isn't my little Tyki!(Zito roughly translates to little and replaces the last part of a persons name to become a term of affection.)  
_Olá, Tia_ – Hello, Aunt (Aunt is the direct translation for Tia but it is also a term of affection for an older woman.)  
_Você fala o português?_ - Do you speak Portuguese?  
_Não, realmente._ - She doesn't, actually.  
_Caro_ – Dear  
_Senhora/Sra_. - Missus/Mrs.  
_Senhor/Sr_. - Mister/Mr.  
_Padre_ – Father(as in priest)

**German  
**_Was -_What?  
_Nein_ – No  
_Ja – _Yes  
_Fräulein_ - Miss

Music**: Flightless Bird, American Mouth **by Iron and Wine (One for Tyki), **What Can I Say**– Brandi Carlisle (One for Miranda), **Trouble Is A Friend – **Lenka (Tyki and Miranda)

**A/N**: Piódão is a real town in northern Portugal, if anyone is interested pics can be found here – trekearth dot com /gallery/Europe/Portugal/North/Coimbra/Piodao/ Enjoy!


	7. Lost

**Spoiler Warning: **Hints relating to recent manga chapters, though nothing blatant.

**Disclaimer: **D. Gray-man, Tyki and Miranda all belong to Katsura Hoshino. None of this is mine.

**A/N: **I am finally updating. I lost my way for a little bit, trying to figure myself out as a writer and how that fits into my life... but that's neither here or there. I apologize for the wait and hope you enjoy the latest installment. I really do appreciate all the reviews. Thanks to everyone and special thanks to

**tsuzusushi **on lj for the lovely fanart... bribery of the highest order! ^_^ (Link on my FF homepage for the interested... )

**WORLD ENOUGH, AND TIME...**

_Drawn by your growing,  
__we gather like disheveled hair.  
__Even spirits come to bow,  
_We were dead. Now we are back.

**- Rumi**

* * *

_The angel watched the estate below. _

_He watched the sons and their wives, toiling in the vineyard. He observed them with mildly interested detachment. They were like the cogs and wheels in the odd machines _that one _built. Tiny, but vitally important in the small roles they would play._

_Almost without conscious thought his eyes slid to only daughter of the Noah household. Her graceful hands traced delicately over the vines, gently tying them off when they threatened to bend and break beneath their own weight. _

_That girl saw only the beauty of the world, the forgetfulness of her soul shielding her from the pain of separation that God had inflicted upon them all. Her face shone with contented joy and for a moment the angel envied her. After a long while he dragged his gaze away and sought out her twin, the fourth son._

_He was apart from the others, studying the potential harvest, calculating, young eyes seeing everything._

_This was one who could learn an angel's secrets with ease. He was intelligent, observant, and, perhaps most telling, he questioned. Already he sensed the boy hesitated in placing his full trust in him. He would have made a good magician._

_Ah, but that did not matter now, his distrust would amount to nothing, his potential likewise. Already the first and last magician of this damned prison was designing the tool that would crack it wide. The secrets of angelic alchemy he had imparted taking shapes in that strange human mind that not even he could have dreamed._

_He would end the world for him, that one... his tool... his mad master. _

_Perhaps then God would condescend to look down on His Creation and see what He had wrought._

* * *

_"The only reason I did not take his life with my own two hands was that, at the end of it all, the boy stopped fighting..._

_"Allen Walker... killed himself."_

With those last words echoing in her mind, Miranda collapsed onto the bed. Her eyes remained wide, staring into the black, a ringing, rushing sound in her ears. Somehow she had pulled away from Tyki and made her way up the stairs to her room.

_He_ had not tried to stop her.

She wanted to believe Allen would never have done such a thing, that that brave and beautiful boy would have never given up.

She knew though, he had not been the same boy who had saved her. He had changed.

Changed by the Order. Changed by the Noah.

Perhaps he had changed as much as this.

The roaring sound consumed her every sense and, when the dark finally embraced her, it was a welcome relief.

* * *

_She was running through the corridors of the Black Order._

It had finally happened. She was exhausted but when the alarms went off she knew why and so, she ran. She had been back from her mission only a few hours but stories of the events in the North American branch of the Order had already reached her. It was all shrill, confused gossip. The Noah, the Third Exorcists, a creature known as Alma... the 14th. She didn't know the details but she knew one thing for certain.

She had to help Allen.

She stumbled and fought to keep her balance against the tide of fleeing support staff. In the distance, getting closer with every step she took, explosions and shouts of battle rang out. It soon became easier, faster to move as the civilians disappeared from her path. Now only Exorcists and Crow filled the narrow corridors, running towards the upheaval as she was.

But, she suspected, for very different reasons.

She glanced at the Exorcist running next to her. His face was a mask of fury.

She turned quickly away. Choji's hatred was a frightening thing.

Within moments the corridor gave way to the impossibly wide rotunda, surrounded by five stories of open galleries. She hesitated, attempting to orient herself when suddenly there was a shout and the wall above her exploded. There was no time to activate her Innocence; she cried out as she threw her hands above her head.

After a moment she dropped them, and looked around in shock. Choji was bracing a large chunk of rock easily, grinning down at her.

"Thank... thank you Cho.."

"Oi, Miranda! You okay?"

She jerked her head up. Lavi balanced on a railing high above them, his hammer slung over his shoulder and a worried expression on his face. There was a sudden howl and the piece of wall that had nearly crushed her was spinning towards him. He released his weapon with a curse, swinging hard and shattering the wall into harmless fragments.

"Traitor!" Choji screamed.

With a mournful look in her direction, Lavi dropped out of sight.

"How... how can they?" Choji helped her to her feet, his face red and crumpled. His voice shook.

"How can they help him? He's a monster, a Noah! He's evil! _They're_ evil... Traitors!"

Furious tears ran down his face and Miranda looked away, biting at her lip.

"We... we'd better go help," she whispered. She broke away from him and fled into the thick of the confusion. He'd lost too many of his friends, his precious Anita. He would never understand.

She looked around desperately as the she was pushed and jostled. She struggled forward and for one miraculous moment the way parted before her.

She saw them.

Lavi, Lenalee, even Kanda. They circled protectively around Krory and braced on Krory's back...

Miranda's heart wrenched painfully. Allen leaned on the older man's shoulder, eyes tightly shut and panting heavily. He looked feverish and she winced at the sight of blood seeping through the bandages wrapped about his head, stained in the pattern of a band of crosses.

They were being harried on all sides.

They were powerful exorcists, able to defeat their opponents easily but now their opponents were their comrades... their friends.

It was an impossible situation.

She took it in in a matter of moments before the crowd surged and they were lost to her sight once more.

All at once Lenalee burst into view as her Dark Boots carried her high above the battle. Whatever the girl had been planning to do was halted as strips of cloth shot after her, wrapping and tangling around her legs like living things. She cried out as she was yanked violently back to earth.

"Innocence! Time out... Time Out!"

Without thought Miranda launched herself into the crowd, the Time Record spinning in her hands. As she darted forward the power pulsed ahead of her, driving Finders and Crow roughly from her path.

Within moments she was beside the girl and the Time Dome closed around them, slamming shut in the twisted mask covered faces of the charging Crow. The taut fabric of the binding collapsed as it was severed.

Lenalee was crumpled on the ground, trembling as Miranda knelt beside her. She winced as she ran her hand over the unnaturally twisted leg. It was badly broken. It would take ages to heal but... for the moment... The power flowed through her as time reversed. The leg straightened, the cracked bone knitting itself back together. The girl sat up with a gasp and turned to her with wide eyes.

"Miranda..."

"I know I'm useless...," she focused on unwinding the fabric from Lenalee's legs, "But... but I want to help. Let me help."

"You know what he's becoming, don't you?"

"A Noah." Miranda met the girl's eyes fiercely. "He's still Allen and I won't let them kill him."

With a sudden rush of affection she reached out and touched Lenalee's cheek. "I am the adult here after all. Adults are supposed to protect children, not hurt them or... or..."

"I understand, Miranda. The girl rewarded her with a bright smile, if rather wan. She stood shakily. "Thank you."

Miranda followed her to her feet.

They both stared at the wall of the dome.

"They'll be waiting for us. When I lower this..."

"... they're going to attack."

Miranda nodded as Lenalee finished her thought. The girl bent her legs slightly, readying herself to fight.

Miranda took a deep breath and allowed the barrier to drop away.

There was an immediate blow across the back of her head and the pain that followed drove her to her knees.

Of course they had been waiting for them

She blinked through the dizziness and nausea, focusing on keeping the Time Record spinning, even as rough hands grabbed a hold on her arms. There was a sharp cry and Miranda jerked up in time to see Lenalee slammed into the wall.

Choji.

"Traitor! TRAITOR!" He was howling, beyond thought, his hand twisting around the girl's neck as she scrabbled for purchase, desperately trying to breath.

Dimly she could hear yelling, orders for him to stand down, but his hold only tightened. From the corner of her eye she saw Kanda, Lavi and the others struggling to get to her.

All at once there was a sickening crack and everything became eerily silent.

Lenalee slid to the ground, gasping.

Allen, from nowhere,was now leaning on Choji's shoulder. Gracefully he spun the other man around.

The boy's skin had darkened to gray. Golden eyes sparkled and his mouth had twisted into a wide unnatural smile. Almost playfully, he wiggled the fingers of his deformed hand.

The hand that now bloomed horribly from Choji's chest.

"It's not nice," he singsonged into the other man's ear, "to hit girls." With a hideously wet sound he pulled his arm free and Choji collapsed in a lifeless heap at his feet.

Clapping echoed into the silence.

Allen looked up with a twisted grin and Miranda followed his gaze.

An elaborate doorway hovered high above their heads. The Noah, Road Kamelot sat in it, legs swinging, applauding with delight. Tyki Mikk leaned on the door itself, smoking, watching lazily.

Allen turned his overly wide smile to his audience as he shifted towards them and stepped over the body.

Miranda's arms were released as the soldiers of the Order tensed. She staggered slightly as she pulled herself to her feet.

Allen... no, not Allen anymore, the 14th, the Noah, stood unconcerned in the midst of his former allies, a predator among his prey.

The boy's cold golden eyes slid over as a flurry of activity caught his attention. He made no move as Komui inched his way over to Lenalee.

"Are you really the 14th now?"

"Shut up Tyki, of course he is. Aren't you, Allen?"

He laughed. "I awakened, didn't I? I thought you noticed."

"Mmm, and then you turned on us." Tyki flicked his fingers. The cigarette butt arced out to land, quietly smoldering, at the 14th 's feet.

The 14th kicked at it and Miranda shivered as he smirked and laughed again. " _'We'_ weren't ready yet." He pulled the blood stained bandage from his head then reached up, dragging his clean hand across the still oozing crosses. He examined his bloody fingers for a moment before licking at them.

"_'We're'_ ready now."

Road trilled with delight, almost drowning out Lenalee's anguished cry. "_Allen_..."

For a moment those eyes flickered blue and that smile faltered.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I guess I wasn't strong enough after all."

Then the unnatural smile split his face once more.

"Shall we play, boy?" Tyki looked hungry. Miranda felt ill as Road giggled in response; a mad sound that twisted in her gut.

"Not today." He hummed lightly and one of the Arc's twisted doors unfolded from the air next to him. He stepped inside as his eyes swept the assembled Order. "Soon though. Oh, very soon."

_And he was gone._

* * *

He'd broken her. He hadn't meant to break her.

Tyki slammed the empty glass back on the table, replaced the cigarette in his mouth and poured himself another drink.

He was in a foul mood. Everything had begun so well... what had gone wrong?

When he'd told her about Allen it was as if there had been an audible _snap _as the light in her eyes went out. That light had been there even through the sadness that had overtaken her in Piódão.

He'd wanted to say he'd become furious when she asked him about the deaths of her friends, but it had begun well before that.

She'd disappeared at the market but he hadn't been worried. She was completely under his thumb and in any case where would she go?

Then he'd found her in the church.

She was staring at that damned priest as if he were some sort of saviour...

He ground the cigarette out and took a deep drink, gasping slightly as the whiskey burned it's way down his throat. His face set in a scowl, he topped up the glass again and turned back to his chair. He threw himself into it, ignoring the splash of alcohol over his hand. He fought down the wave of sick disappointment that washed through him.

She was the Heart. He thought she was supposed to be_ strong_.

Two days now she'd wandered about, a ghost with dead eyes, and that was only because he'd dragged her from her bed. If he hadn't, he doubted she'd have bothered getting up at all.

She was... somewhere else.

And he had no idea if she'd ever return.

A bitter laugh escaped him. The game had ended far sooner than he expected. It was clear he would have to kill her.

He should have realized from the beginning that woman's future would hold nothing but death. How foolish for him to imagine there might be any way but the Duke's.

The glass slipped from his grasp as he lifted his hands and studied the long, elegant fingers. He shut his eyes tight and groaned.

How foolish for him to imagine his hands were ever meant for anything but blood.

* * *

Music: **Jar of Hearts **by Christina Perri


End file.
